


Stuck in this mess with you(And I want out!)

by Exewon



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, fixing burnt bridges
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2018-12-14 04:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11775039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exewon/pseuds/Exewon
Summary: Tails thought it was going to be an easy job. Check out what was emitting that strange energy reading and report back. Now he’s trapped in a damp unstable cave that can come down on their heads at any moment with nothing but a flashlight, the clothes on his back and Fiona trapped with him for company.  Their bickering might just kill them before the cave does.





	1. Chapter 1

“Tails! We getting close to the signal yet?” 

Tails barely heard Sonic’s voice over the propeller of his biplane and the rushing wind as they flew over the canyons beneath them. He glanced at the sensor quickly. 

“We’re getting closer. Between a kilometer or two, just straight ahead. After that, I’ll have to get out the more sensitive sensor and get a closer reading!” Tails shouted back.

“So it’s probably somewhere around that really big rock formation in the distance, right?”

“Well, yeah...” he replied, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized where this was going. His fears were confirmed when his control panel displayed that Sonic had unhooked his seatbelt. “Sonic! Get that back on. Sally told us to...”

“See you there, Tails! I’ll find that thing before you’re even there,” Sonic yelled over the wind before jumping out of the plane. 

“--stay together,” he finished with a groan as he gunned the throttle, the biplane speeding up as he tried in vain to keep pace with the speedster.

-_-_

Tails found Sonic at foot of the rock formation, pacing impatiently. Sonic looked at him as Tails clambered out of his plane. “Took you long enough buddy. I’ve already taken a quick look around. ” 

“So did you find anything weird?” Tails asked as he pulled his equipment out of the storage compartment.   
  
Sonic shrugged. “Not really, just rocks, rocks and even more rocks.” He gestured at the dry canyons surrounding them. “Nothing but dust and rocks around this place.”

“Well, unless dust gives of readings like this,” Tails said as he looked at the sensor, “there has to be something else around here. And It’s up to us to find out what. So let's get searching.”

-_-_

Tails frowned as he looked at the readings. He checked the sensor; that wasn’t it, everything was working perfectly. So why was he picking up something like this?

“Hey Tails, what’s the holdup?” Sonic yelled as he raced over and peeked over his shoulder, his eyes going blank at the sight of all the data scrolling over the sensor screen.   
“So, for somebody who has no clue what he’s looking at. What’s going on?”

Tails pointed at one dataset. “This is the emission we’ve detected back in the Acorn Kingdom and why we’ve come out here. But things started to go weird a while back. At first, I thought I was getting wrong readings. But I checked the sensor and everything was fine.” He pushed a few buttons on the sensor and another dataset popped up. “Turns out there is another emission coming from somewhere around here. It’s way too fuzzy to even start to pinpoint the location. But look at the frequency of this thing. It’s similar to the readings you get from high-energy processes y-”

“And you lost me,” Sonic said with a shake of his head. “Dumb it down a little bit, please?” 

Tails rolled his eyes. “Aside from our mystery energy signal, something else is also around here. Most likely a reactor of some sort, judging from the readings.”

Sonic raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. “You sure that isn’t something with your sensor? How could somebody build a reactor in this place without anybody else noticing?”

“I don’t know if it’s a reactor for sure,” Tails admitted as he looked at the data again. “The readings are too faint to be sure.”

“Can you get a clearer reading on it?” 

Tails shook his head. “Not with this sensor. Not without rebuilding the entire thing, and I don’t have the parts for that. I could build something if I had my workshop, though.”

“Then we best find whatever we’re looking for now, before we go and check this out.”

Tails gave a determined nod. “Right, let's get to it, then.”

-_-

“We found it yet?”    
  
Tails suppressed a sigh as he marked another section as searched. “Didn’t I say the last time that I would tell you when we found it? Just like the time before that, and the time before  _ that _ ?”

Sonic groaned as he flopped down on the hard ground. “I told Sally she should’ve sent Rotor or Nicole with you. They would’ve been of more use than me at this. But they were busy and Sally was too worried to let you go alone.”

Tails stopped in his tracks and gave an annoyed look at Sonic “Worried?” 

Sonic laughed nervously. “You know how she is.”

“Come on, I’m fifteen already.” Tails groaned. “Can’t she see I’m a little bit too old to need a babysitter?” he muttered as he kept searching with the sensor.

“You’re  _ just _ fifteen,” Sonic corrected as he stood back up. “Even  _ we  _ weren’t that young when we started the fight against Robutnik. It’s not that she thinks you need a babysitter. She just wants you to be safe.”

“Sounds a lot like babysitting, to me.” 

Sonic sighed. “Come on Tails, you didn’t make an issue out of this until after I let it slip that Sally was worried. Is it really that big a deal? ” 

“I just don’t want to be babied,” Tails muttered as he kept looking at the data on his sensor. “I’m old and smart enough to do things without somebody else having to look over my shoulder. I’ve fought against Robotnik just as long as everybody else. But I’m the only one who  _ always  _ has to go with somebody else, when possible.” 

The closer they came to a canyon the stronger the signal became. 

“Come on, just because we don’t like the idea of you going somewhere on your own doesn’t mean we think you need handholding.” Sonic said as he walked alongside Tails. “I wouldn’t want Sally to go somewhere potentially dangerous on her own either, not because I think she can’t handle herself, but because I just don’t want to see her hurt if something goes wrong. It’s exactly the same with you.”

Tails kept his gaze firmly on his sensor, refusing to look at Sonic. 

The blue blur just let out a sigh. “Look, Tails I’m not good with this kinda stuff. If it really bothers you that much, then we’ll talk with Sally about it. But I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing.” 

They came to a stop at the edge of the canyon. If the readings were right, then whatever was emitting this energy signature was around here somewhere.

Tails leaned over the edge to get a better look, Ignoring the sheer drop of the cliff. A river flowed through through the bottom of the cavern. Tails narrowed his eyes to get a better look. Directly below them, a small outcropping of rocks broke the surface of the river, framing a partially submerged cave entrance.

“Please tell me it isn’t in there,” Sonic whined as he noticed what Tails was looking at.

“I’ll go and take a look. Keep an eye on the Tornado-2 while I’m down there, will you?”

Sonic let out a sigh of relief. “Of course buddy. Yell if you need me.”

“I will,” Tails said before he descended into the canyon.

-_-_-

Tails had to bend over to fit into the cave, awkwardly holding his sensor and flashlight as he slogged through the kneehigh water. He let out a sigh of relief as the ceiling curved upwards and he could stand up straight again. 

“Right, so where are you,” Tails muttered to himself as he gave another look at the sensor. Walking deeper into the cave, he tried to keep his balance as he sloshed across the uneven cave floor. 

A quick glance at the sensor told him that he was nearly on top of it, but the water was too murky to make something out with his flashlight. Now the only source of light was the faraway light that came from the cave entrance, behind him. He shoved the sensor and flashlight in his toolbelt and hunched down as he felt around. Dirt and stones were stirred up, making the water even murkier, but a faint yellow glow was still able to be seen. He scooped it out of the water.   
  


It was a shard of a gemstone about the size of his fingertip, and as he grasped it, he could feel the dregs of power still contained in the shard. Power that felt familiar, but just  _ wrong _ .

“Anarchy beryl?!” Tails had to suppress the urge to throw the shard as far away from him as he could. “How did it--” 

He heard a splash behind him and turned around just in time to get kicked in the muzzle. The force of the blow knocked him into the knee deep water, nearly smacking the shard out of his hand. He pushed himself back on his feet, coughing out water and gasping for breath. He scanned for his attacker while fumbling for his flashlight.

“You really need to keep a closer eye on your surroundings, Tails,” a familiar voice said from the darkness. “That was embarrassing.”

“Fiona, of course,” Tails hissed as he stood up and finally saw her silhouette in the darkness. This was bad; the only way out was behind her and she was bigger than him - and a better fighter.  He kept the flashlight hidden behind him as he dialed up its intensity to the highest setting. 

Of course it was a trap. It was too easy not to be. 

“Aww, aren’t you happy to see me? It’s been, what, two years since we last met?” She took a confident step forward, a smug smirk on her face.    
  
"Best two years In my life," Tails snapped.   
  
Fiona laughed. “You really know how to make a woman feel wanted.”    
  
”You make it really hard for anybody to want you around most of the time.” Tails bared his teeth at her and balled his fists. His kept his attention on her, waiting for her guard to drop.

“At least you’ve got a little bit more bite to you than last time.” She quickly closed the distance. Tails whipped out the flashlight and shined it right at her face. He had to narrow his eyes at the brightness. Fiona, whose eyes had been used to the dark cave, fared far worse, covering her eyes while yelping in pain. 

Taking the chance, Tails made a break for the exit, but she stopped him in his tracks by grabbing him by the back of his collar. Tails didn't have the time to curse himself for wearing a shirt, because she threw him away from the exit, pushing the air out of his lungs and forcing the impact forcing brackish water into his lungs . Coughing and wheezing he got back on his feet. 

Fiona gave him an annoyed glare, still rubbing her eyes from the flash. “As smart as ever,”  she spat out. She took a defensive stance, positioning herself between Tails and the exit.  

Tails’ ears twitched as muffled explosion,s and the sound of Sonic’s Spindash, echoed through the tunnel. His eyes flicked towards the exit. Fiona smirked at him. She sprang towards him. Tails aimed the flashlight at her eyes, but she was expecting it, grabbing a hold of his wrist and twisting the blinding beam away from her face. It illuminated the cavern in a wild arc. “That’s not gonna work twice. Sonic is just going to have to be a big boy and deal with Scourge himself. Because I’m not going to let you escape.” 

She punched at his face, and he had no way to dodge the blow thanks to her vice-like grip on his wrist. Tails barely managed to bring up his second arm to deflect some of the strength of the blow. Yelping in pain at the impact, he wrenched his arm out of Fiona’s grip. He gave her a defiant stare before trying to force himself past her again.

-_-

“Come on Scourge, for an evil counterpart of me, you really are slow,” Sonic said while dodging a punch from his enemy. “And what’s up with the new goons? Did your old ones finally get enough of your attitude and drop you?” He looked past Scourge towards the two minions, a giant of a polar bear and a duck who was juggling his explosives with a bit too much enthusiasm. “Why do you guys hang with this green idiot anyway?”

The polar bear said nothing, glowering at Sonic with a bored look on his face as he cracked his knuckles.

“He pays us a lot!” The duck filled in the silence of his compatriot.

“And that will stop if you don’t pull your damn weight!” Scourge snarled. “So stop yapping and start fighting!”

They were way too slow - before the duck could even react, Sonic kicked him in the stomach. He went tumbling across the ground and came to a stop in a crumpled heap, groaning in pain. The giant polar bear didn’t fare much better, either. It didn’t matter how big or strong you were if you couldn’t hit your opponent, and to Sonic, the polar bear seemed to be moving in slow motion. 

Sonic sped out of the way of the polar bear’s attack before Spindashing him in the side. The polar bear joined his companion on the ground.    
  


Scourge scoffed at the two crumpled goons. “Can’t find help worth a damn these days.” Charging, he feinted at Sonic’s head while going for a body-blow. 

“You’ve gotten slow, Scourge,” Sonic scoffed as he blocked the blow, grabbing the green hedgehog by the jacket.

Sonic saw fear flash in Scourge’s eyes before the blue blur slammed the green hedgehog against the ground, pinning him there. But it quickly faded away and was replaced with a shit-eating grin. 

“Give it up Scourge, I’ve kicked you and your goons’ butts. You aren’t getting out of this one, so make it easy for the both of us and give it up already,” Sonic said, looking around for anybody else he could have missed.

Scourge let out a wheezing laugh. “Come on, Sonic, you should know me better than that.” With a broad grin, Scourge reached into his jacket and pulled out a switch. Sonic’s blood ran cold. He recognized that device; Tails and Rotor used those things whenever they worked with explosives. A detonator.   
  
“I’ve _ always _ got a Plan B, nowadays.” Sonic tried to knock the detonator out of Scourge’s hand, but he was too late. Scourge pushed the button and the ground began to rumble. Sonic could only stare on in horror as the canyon wall of the cave Tails had gone into began to collapse. After the dust had settled, all that was left was a giant pile of rubble.   
  


At first, Sonic could only stare at the rubble, his mind refusing to accept what happened. 

“Tails!” he choked out, before clenching his fist and glaring at Scourge, gritting his teeth. He grabbed Scourge by the collar with both his hands and pulled the hedgehog closer. “You’re a sick bastard.” 

“He probably ain’t dead yet.” Scourge started talking, a feral grin on his face. “But underneath all that rubble, who knows how long he will last? But who is better at getting help then the fastest thing alive?” He spat out the last part of the sentence as if it was a curse. “Maybe if you go for help right now, you’ll get him out in time. Or, if you want to waste precious seconds punching me in the face, that’s also an option,” Scourge gloated.   
  
“But better figure out how to tell your friends that he’s dead because you were more interested in punching me than saving him.” 

As much as Sonic hated to admit it, Scourge was right. Tails might still be alive. Trapped in that cave, or buried in the rubble, and the longer Sonic wasted time here with Scourge, the bigger the chance Tails wouldn’t make it out alive.

“I’m going to get you for this,” Sonic snarled, letting go of Scourge. 

“Just run to save your little friend. That’s all you can do.” Scourge laughed.

Sonic balled his fists and resisted the urge to punch Scourge in the face until all those stupid sharpened teeth of his were broken. But Scourge wasn’t worth even a single second of time that could be better spent saving Tails’ life. He ran towards the Freedom Fighters base as fast as he could hoping that he wouldn’t be too late. 

-_-

A loud explosion rocked the cave; Tails barely managed to keep his footing. The ceiling started to crack and rocks began falling, causing the sole entrance to the cave to quickly collapse. Leaving his flashlight as the sole remaining source of light. 

Tails locked eyes with Fiona, her usual attitude replaced with wide-eyed shock, her ears flat against her head in fear. She hadn’t known about this. Any other thoughts were pushed out of his mind as a large rock fell down next to him, splashing him with water. They both ran for their lives, deeper into the cave.  

He didn’t stop running until the rocks stopped falling. He was breathing heavily as he let the light of his flashlight glide over the walls of the cave, hoping that there was some way back through the rocks blocking the way. That he wasn’t trapped in a cave complex that ran who knew how deep.

“What the hell is this!”    
  
Tails nearly jumped out of his fur at the enraged tone in Fiona’s voice and hunched in on himself as her gaze locked onto him; that look promised nothing but pain. She slogged through the knee deep water towards him. “You did this didn’t you?!”

“Me?” Tails questioned in confusion as he backed away from the irate vixen. To no avail; she roughly grabbed him by the collar anyway. “Why would I risk blowing myself up? No, never mind that question, HOW did I even do it? I don’t have any explosives with me!”

Fiona glared down at him and Tails tensed up, readying himself for a blow. “Knowing you, you can rig something up with some spare parts and a battery.”  She roughly began patting him down. 

“What are y-”   
  
“Shut up!” she hissed a him before continuing to mutter under her breath as she began to rifle through his toolbelt and pockets, carelessly throwing things aside as she did. “You tried to run as soon as you blinded me. You’ve must have triggered it then. Trying to lock me in the cave alone. You’ve got to have something to do that with, a radio, a remote, some kind of …” Her eyes went wide in shock and she turned away from him, fists clenched, “...A detonator...” she whispered.    
  
For a brief moment, Tails thought she was going to knock his teeth out, but she unceremoniously dropped him in the water and kicked a rock before she stormed towards the collapsed cave entrance and started to try and dig a way out. She was throwing the dirt and rocks away from her as if they were the ones who betrayed her, splattering water and mud everywhere.

Tails backed away from the irate Fiona. The adrenaline of the fight was slowly wearing off and he was bone tired, his wet fur and clothes sticking uncomfortably to his body, doing nothing to protect him from the chill of the cave. He was tired, wet, cold and miserable. So if she wanted to dig through a few meters of debris instead of antagonizing him, then she was welcome to it. 

He began gathering up the things Fiona had carelessly thrown away during her search, checking if they still worked. The flashlight, of course, and still serviceable. The sensor he had used to find the anarchy beryl had been smashed beyond repair, but he also had the little shard of anarchy beryl, some extra batteries, his emergency beacon, a backup beacon and a few candy bars he had taken with him without Sally finding out. 

They were completely crushed, but the plastic wrapping was still sealed, so they should still be edible. At least he had something to eat while he waited for Sonic to come back with help.   
  
He quickly scanned the rest of the cave. There were no dry spots to sit on, and the cave led deeper into mountain, possibly filled with dangerous creatures that he couldn’t escape from. But what actually frightened him, and threw his lovely plan of sitting tight and waiting out of the window, were the deep cracks in the ceiling. As soon as Rotor came along with one of his digging machines to get him out, the entire cave ceiling would collapse, and he didn’t know how far the cracks in the ceiling ran.

Tails took a deep breath. He just needed to stay calm and not freak out about the unknown depths of the cave he had to go into.    
  
Fiona chose that moment to scream, a drawn out, raw sound that made his fur stand on end. 

He looked at Fiona, who was collapsed against the rocks, breathing heavily. 

He made a decision, one that he just knew he was going to regret later. But he couldn’t just leave her here. 

He slowly and cautiously walked towards her, making sure to make enough noise so that he couldn’t possibly surprise her - the less reasons he gave her to punch him, the better. “Fiona?”

When she answered it was with a hollow voice “What?” She blinked and narrowed her eyes, fur bristling. “Come here to _ gloat _ ?” she asked, baring her teeth  “Here to tell me all about how your  _ friends _ are on the way? How I’m not going to escape  _ justice _ this time? Or are you too good for that?”  The silence was loud as the echoes died away, only the sound of dripping water and her swishing tail to mark it.

“No,” Tails bit out. “I’m here to tell you that the cave won’t be able to handle Rotor digging us out. So unless you want to be buried underneath the entire cliff, we need to go deeper into the cave.” He gestured behind him. “Should I keep my mouth shut about it, next time?” Tails knew that he shouldn’t be pouring fuel on the fire like this, but he was past the point where he would care about how she felt about it. He was wet, cold to the bone, a sensor he worked ages on was now scrap metal and, worst of all, of all the people he could have been trapped in a cave with, it was Fiona. If she wanted a fight, then she could get it.

“Great, anything else that can go wrong?”

Tails didn’t bother responding to that remark. Instead, he started to slog through the knee deep water, going deeper into the cave.. Fiona followed, and Tails took care to stay a wary distance from her.


	2. Chapter 2

Only the dripping and sloshing of water broke the silence as they made their way through the winding cave.  Tails would shine his flashlight at the ceiling every so often, making it damn near impossible for Fiona to see where she was going.

Fiona let out a surprised yelp as her feet slipped on the slick underwater stones, and she fell into the brackish water. She heaved herself out of the water, eyes stinging from the salt and ignoring the throbbing pain in her ankle. She coughed up the filthy water. Tails had stopped in his tracks and was looking at her. She could only see his silhouette through the glare of the flashlight, but she just knew he was laughing at her misfortune.

“Would you stop doing that!” Fiona glared at Tails, still coughing up water. “Just keep that flashlight aimed to where we are going!” She tried to shake her waterlogged fur dry. Tails wisely took a few steps back to avoid getting showered. “Who gives a shit about how the ceiling looks?” 

“I do. I would like to know when the ceiling isn’t about to come down on our heads.”

“Fine, but do you really have to check for that so often? Now I’m soaked to the bone, in a cold cave.” She stood up and winced slightly as pain shot through her ankle, but it held under her weight. Hopefully she just twisted it. Maybe a light sprain, in the worst case.

“I’m just being thorough! Not everybody just wings it like you and Scourge alwa--”

“Don’t you drag  _ him _ into this,” she snarled, limping towards him. Tails tried to back off, but she managed to get a firm grip on his collar, dragging him towards her. “Better yet, why don’t you just shut up entirely?” She wrenched the flashlight out of his grip, quickly moving it out of reach as he tried to snatch it back. She then shoved him into the murky water, smirking down at him as she shone at him with the flashlight.

“And that’s for laughing at me. Not so funny now that the roles are reversed, is it?”

Tails just looked up at her in confusion, the confusion quickly turning into anger. She didn’t care and just stepped around him. 

“What are you even talking about? I didn’t laugh at you.” She heard the water splat as he scrambled not to be left behind.

“Of course you didn’t,” she snapped. “You really expect me to believe that?”

Tails let out a frustrated growl. “I don’t laugh at people’s pain, even if they’re jerks. That’s just how you do things.” 

Fiona scoffed and started to walk deeper into the cave. “Whatever.” 

-_-_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of falling water became louder and louder the further they walked, the water at their feet becoming less stagnant and wider as small rivulets of water joined in. Fiona struggled to stay on her feet, her ankle spasming with pain every time she put weight on it, forcing her to use the cave walls to keep herself upright. A few quick glances at Tails showed that he also had trouble keeping himself upright with his smaller frame.

“What -- are you -- slowing down for?” Tails managed to pant out as he closed the distance slightly.

“You want me to leave you alone in the dark?” She shone the flashlight right into his face, giving him the widest grin she could manage through the throbbing pain of her ankle. 

Tails shielded his eyes against the glare from the flashlight. “No.” He hastily added, “no, I don’t.” 

“Then stop asking questions and just be happy I slowed down,” she ground out as she turned back around, continuing the difficult walk along the cave wall. She grit her teeth as every step forced her to put weight on her bad ankle. 

Fiona was grateful that Tails just dropped the matter, and they struggled along in silence. 

The cave widening and the source of the sound of falling water was soon revealed. The ground just dropped away, the water falling into the depths below. Fiona couldn’t see the bottom of the chasm through the mist. There were a few other tunnels leading away from the larger cave, but as she shined the flashlight down there, a faint metallic glint caught her eye. She raised the flashlight a bit higher, trying to cast more light down below.

“If you can’t... see well... why don’t you increase the intensity of the flashlight?” Tails panted out as he splattered through the flowing water. 

Fiona just gave him a flat look before turning her attention back to the flashlight. She fumbled a bit in the darkness. 

“How many dials did you even put on this thing?” she muttered to herself as she fiddled. 

“Light intensity, width of the beam, buttons to control the display...” Tails wisely shut his muzzle when Fiona gave him a withering glare. 

A few more moments of fumbling and she finally managed to crank up the light intensity and she shined the beam down into the depths. Through the mists of the waterfall, she could make out a metallic glint and the outlines of something Mobian-made. 

“What are you looking for?” Tails asked as he peered into the darkness.

Fiona ignored him as she surveyed the rest of the cavern, trying to figure out some way to get down there. The waterfall in front of them, and the rocks close to it, were suicide. But if she could climb just a few meters sideways, away from the waterfall, the rocks would be dryer and getting down wouldn’t be that bad. Or so she hoped.

She had barely moved towards the edge before Tails opened his muzzle again. 

“Are you nuts? You’re really going to climb down that?” He made a sweeping gesture towards the chasm and the waterfall. “It’s all slick, with who-knows-what down at the bottom of it. You lose your grip, and I think it’s pretty much over. Even if it’s just a deep lake, the fall will mess you up. If it has sharp stones at the bottom, then, well...”

He held out his hand. “Why don’t you just hand me the flashlight and I’ll go take a look? I can just hover down there, go check it out, and easily fly back up here. Then you don’t need risk breaking your neck climbing down this death trap for something that could be nothing.”

Fiona snarled at him, and Tails pulled his hand back as quickly as he could. “And give you the chance to leave me here in the dark? I’m not stupid, Tails. I’m not trusting you with the flashlight.”

“It’s mine to begin with!”    
  
“And you’ve got that glowing rock that’s mine," she said as limped away from the edge of the waterfall and sat down on a mostly dry outcropping. She pressed her hand over her mouth to muffle the sigh of relief. It felt good to finally give her bad ankle some rest. "You took something from me, I took something from you.That’s fair, isn’t it?”    
  
Tails glared at her, obviously unimpressed with her logic.   
  
“You’re welcome to try and take it from me." Fiona bared her teeth in a grin, daring him to try. "If you think you can.”    
  
He looked away. Like she had known he would. She snorted as she began to fiddle with the settings on the flashlight, keeping Tails at the edge of her vision, just in case.   
  
"I thought so," she said in a mocking tone. “You know who’s in charge,”

“Come on, think this through.” Tails tried again as he looked over the edge of the waterfall. “This is suicide.”

“Oh, just worry about yourself. Because I’m taking the flashlight with me.” Fiona flippantly brushed off his concern. She slowly walked along the edge, putting as much distance between herself and the waterfall as she could. The edge quickly narrowed. She looked downwards, the slick wall glistening in the light, and she vaguely caught sight of the water, deep below in the chasm. She clenched the flashlight in between her teeth and slowly began her descent. 

She’d climbed worse chasms than  _ this _ , mere hours ago she’d no trouble descending the canyon wall to get at the entrance of this cursed cave.

This climb was only half that distance. Bad ankle or not, this was going to be a piece of cake.   
  
She grunted in frustration as she tried to keep a firm grip on the slick stones. Her ankle protested as soon as she put even a little weight on it. She clenched her teeth as she leaned more weight on her good leg. She could deal with this. It was just a little pain. She gripped the wall harder and put her weight on her shoulders as she slowly reached out with her good ankle towards the next foothold. She bit down on the flashlight to fight through the pain of her bad ankle still having to bear some of her weight.

She let out a sigh of relief as she found a solid foothold and shifted her weight back onto her good ankle, the pain in her ankle and tension in her shoulders easing immediately. 

She followed down with the rest of her body and slowly got into a rhythm. Put her weight on her arms, search for a foothold with her good ankle, lower down. Still, her shoulders and arms were soon burning from the exertion of holding most of her bodyweight, her ankle felt like it was breaking, her jaw was sore from biting down on the flashlight and her fingers were slowly going numb from holding on to slick, cold stones. 

She gave a quick glance upwards. Two meters, maybe a bit more, that was all her pain and effort had bought her. She wasn’t even halfway down and she already felt completely spent. She leaned her head against the cold cave wall for a few moments. She took a few deep breaths. Climbing back up would be the easy option, but that meant facing Tails, and that meant admitting that she was wrong. That she should have listened to him. She just knew he would hold that over her head for as long he could; they always did.   
  
Besides, she had already done two meters; what was another ten or so? She slowly continued downwards, biting down heavily on the flashlight as she tried to ignore the pain. 

It only took a little bit of rushing to make everything go wrong. Eager to ease burden off her screaming ankle and arms, she put her weight on another foothold.   
  
It crumbled underneath her as soon as she did.

Instinct took over, and she shifted her body weight to her other foot. She let out a muffled scream as her bad ankle gave out. The shock of the drop nearly yanked her grip from the handholds.

  
She barely could keep a grip on them with her fingertips, and she felt herself slowly slipping away.   
  
“Fiona! Are you alright?” she heard Tails yell at her from above.

She ignored him and tried to find another foothold, but her feet just slipped away on the wet stones, and her previous stable foothold for her good ankle was just out of reach. The muscles in her arms and shoulders burned as she tried to pull herself up, trying to reach her last stable foothold. But she slowly felt her fingers slip on the slick cave wall. 

“No, no, no.. NO! Damn it!” she growled around the flashlight she still had in her mouth. 

She lost her grip and she slid downwards, the rocks scraping across her entire body as she desperately grabbed for any handhold. She slammed against a protruding rock and the force send her flying away from the rock wall. Feeling nothing but air as she fell. 

This was how she was going out. She had always thought she would end up dead because somebody pulled a fast one on her. But she had never thought she wouldn’t have seen it coming. She had put her trust in Scourge and he’d repaid her by stabbing her in the back as soon as it was convenient for him.    
  
She should’ve been truer to her own words. You can’t trust anybody but yourself. 

“Fiona!” Tails’ voice sounded surprisingly close, snapping her out of her thoughts. The idiot had jumped off the edge. He could fly, but still. That idiot had jumped off the ledge. What was wrong with him? “I’ve got you!’

She felt a pair of arms grab her, and the sudden pull of gravity made her heart drop into her stomach as they began to slow down.   
  
But it was too little, too late. They slammed into the water, and the air was pushed from Fiona’s lungs. She opened her mouth to breathe, or maybe to scream, and swallowed a mouthful of salty , brackish water.

She managed to claw her way back to the surface, but her body felt like lead. Her gasps for air were interrupted as she coughed up brackish water. She fumbled for the flashlight, looking around for it in a panic.

A little bit of the tension left her when Tails surfaced, the flickering flashlight in his hand. He shined the flashlight around. Even with so little light, Fiona could see where they were; the river continued deeper into the cave, though on one side of the cave there was a shore with a strange metallic contraption built onto it, and large pipes reaching into the water.   
  
Not seeing any other option, Fiona began swimming towards the metal contraption. Her body fought against her every move, and every fiber of her being screamed at her to stop and sink, to just give in to the exhaustion. But she refused. She hadn’t lived through all the shit that life had thrown at her just to let it end here, in a shitty cave. She still needed to get back at that green bastard for trapping her in here. She was going to make it to that shore, and she was going to do that under her own power.

After what felt like an eternity, she dragged herself onto the shore, not even able to support her own weight anymore. She pointedly ignored Tails’ offered hand; she didn’t need his pity. She crawled further ashore, and as soon as she could no longer feel the water lap at her feet, she dropped down on the rocks.

“That was just dumb,” Tails stated. She moved her head so she could see him. He was trying to give her a stern glare, but the fact that his wet fur made him look like a waterlogged, two-tailed rat completely ruined the effect.   
  
She smirked at him. “I didn’t hear you coming up with better plans.”

“I told you I could fly down and check it out!” he snapped. 

“I wasn’t going to stay up there alone while you went off with the only light source. Who’s to say you wouldn’t ditch me in the dark?” 

“Really? That’s your excuse for nearly getting the both of us killed? And breaking our source of light?!” He held up the flashlight; the casing was cracked and, compared to before, the bulb was barely giving off light. “Just because you thought I would leave you behind as soon as I could. What’s wrong with you?”

“You already forgot?” She let out a wheezing laugh. “Man, for such a smart guy, you’re pretty forgetful aren’t you? And I made such an effort to beat the lesson into your head, too.”

Tails growled in frustration and walked closer towards her, his hands balled into fists. Fiona tried to force herself back to her feet. If Tails was going to clobber her for clawing open old wounds, then she wasn’t going to go down like a chump. 

Her legs just gave out and she dropped back onto the stones. She gave him a defiant stare as she kept trying to get on her feet.   
  


Tails stopped a meter or so away from her. He took a deep breath and his fists unclenched. “Really? You can’t count on anybody? Maybe that’s because nobody can count on you! The Freedom Fighters counted on you, but as soon as that jerk, Scourge, showed up, you sold us all out! Sonic, Aunt Sally, the rest of the Freedom Fighters, Knothole, me! We were your friends, and the moment Scourge came along, you just threw us all away!”

“Well you know what they say about bad guys. Girls just can’t resist them. ” Fiona forced a smile on her face, trying to ignore the aching of her bruised body. “Besides, he came in green. It complements my red fur a lot better than Sonic’s blue.”   
  
Tails didn’t say anything at that, he just growled and rubbed the top of his head.   
  
Fiona slunk to the ground, too tired to stay stand. Everything ached. She just wanted to close her eyes and sleep. 

But she wasn’t going to do that before Tails got away from her.

Tails finally stopped his little tantrum and shook his head. “Fine. If that’s how you’re going to be...” He reached into his pocket, pulled out a soaked plastic package, and threw it at her. It flopped against her chest and landed in her lap. “Just eat it,” he muttered as he turned around and walked towards the machinery, the flickering flashlight barely providing any illumination. 

Fiona picked up the crumpled and wet package. She couldn’t make out what was written on it in the dim light, but it felt like candy bar… well, a candy bar that had been crushed into nothing but crumbs and dust. Still, it was better than eating nothing at all, she supposed. She fumbled a bit with the wrapper and dumped it all in her mouth as soon as she got it open. She threw the now-empty wrapper over her shoulder, before shedding her jacket and propping it up underneath her head to make herself at least a little bit comfortable.

She had done everything she could. She had survived. At this point, she was too tired to care if Tails abandoned her. What was one more betrayal, after all? She curled up and it didn’t take long for sleep to take her.

-_-_---------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey Fiona, wake up.” 

Fiona groggily blinked and held up a hand to shield her eyes from the flickering flashlight. “Shine that somewhere else or you’re eating it,” she groused as she tried to ignore the aching of her... everything. “You better be waking me up for a good reason, Tails.”

“Might’ve found us a way out of here.” 

Now  _ that _ got her attention, and her frustration ebbed away slightly, only for it to come back full force as he kept jabbering on about technical stuff that just didn’t matter. 

“The construction is a heat sink that uses this underground river to cool off quicker. Judging from the size of the thing, how it’s built, and the fact that it’s so well-maintained, it’s probably there to keep something very vital from having a meltdown. Probably po- ” 

“You could’ve just skipped the technical talk and said that the thing is still working. So people are nearby.” 

Tails gave her an annoyed glare. She just smirked back. 

“And that’s the problem. The Acorn Kingdom didn’t know that this was here, and it’s only a few hundred kilometers away. Practically in their backyard. Stuff like this,” Tails gestured towards the heavy machinery, “is heavy-duty industrial gear. Only a few places have the ability and knowledge to build this stuff from scratch. It doesn’t look like Robotnik design, so they didn’t scavenge it. The Acorn Kingdom has the capability to build it, but we would have known about this facility if they had.” 

“So what? Maybe they got it from somebody else and moved it here,” Fiona said with a shrug.

“Without the Acorn Kingdom’s intelligence service noticing? It’s possible, if you’re making an effort to hide it. Which is shady in its own right.”  

The pieces clicked together in Fiona’s mind. “So we’re intruders in a secret facility and the only way out is through it.” She buried her face in her hands. “So  _ this _ is how things get worse.” She dropped her hands back to her sides and looked at Tails. But at least there was a way out. If given the choice, she would take the risk of being captured, or shot on sight, over slowly starving to death in a wet cave.

“So, do you know anything  _ useful _ about it?” Fiona rubbed her temples before looking at him. “You were ready to jump into this big tech speech just moments before. You gotta know  _ something _ .”

“Not really,” Tails scratched his head as he avoided her gaze. “The reactor powering it has to be... big, judging from the size of this cooling structure. So we can conclude that the base needs a massive amount of power. But I have no clue if that’s because the base is big, or if they’ve got equipment that draws a lot of power.” Tails threw his hands up. “It could be anything. Just because I know what this thing  _ does _ doesn’t mean I can figure out stuff about of the rest of the base.” He rubbed his forehead, his twin tails curling around his legs. 

Fiona remembered him doing that before. She’d seen him do that when he was under pressure or uncomfortable with no way out. Well, he was just going to have to suck it up. He needed to put that brain of his to work so he could find a way out that didn’t involve her being shot.

“All I know is that they aren’t going to react well to us knowing about it, if they took all these measures to build it out here in secret...”

Fiona rolled her eyes. “That’s obvious.”

Tails gave her an annoyed look. “ _ And,  _ I’ve found a maintenance hallway next to the machinery that we can use to get in.” 

“We’re still going in as good as blind. Just great,” Fiona said with a sigh. “Very useful.” 

Tails gave her a glare, tails flicking behind him. 

Fiona met that glare, raised her eyebrow. Daring him to say something.   
  
Tails just muttered some unintelligible things under his breath before turning around and walking back towards the machinery.   
  
Not really seeing a better option, Fiona followed him. A door was tucked away next to the pipes that went into the rock. Fiona raised an eyebrow at Tails as she looked at the scratches and grooves around the lock on the maintenance door. 

“Picking locks, now Tails? I didn’t think you had it in you to be so sneaky.” 

“What? I build drones and airplanes and I designed and built the security of my own workshop; a simple tumbler lock isn’t going to keep me out,” Tails nervously shot back as he pushed the door open. “I also short-circuited the security grid.. They have no idea it’s been opened.”

“Clever.” Fiona looked down the hallway. Hot pipes lined the walls, with a metal gridded walkway stretching into the distance, and lights shining overhead. After a final check for any security that Tails might have missed, she stepped inside.


	3. Chapter 3

The corridor was only wide enough for a single person and the heat radiating from the pipes running along the wall made the air dry and oppressively hot. At least it meant that their clothes weren’t sopping wet anymore. He just followed after Fiona, keeping a wary distance from her.

“Tails, is there any security on this door?” 

“Most likely. Make some room so I can get a closer look, please?” 

Fiona pressed herself against the wall and Tails carefully tried to squeeze past her without hitting the glowing hot pipes.

“You comfy?” 

Tails looked up in confusion. Fiona was looking down at him a smirk. The confusion quickly gave way to embarrassment, and he became very aware of his personal space as he realized how close he was to her, nearly pressing himself against her in an attempt to keep himself from touching the hot pipes. She started laughing as he he hastily pushed himself past her.

“I.. well. You know I was trying to keep myself from getting burned. Be serious about this,” he managed to stutter out. “We can’t just mess around, here.”

“Sure, Tails, whatever you say.” 

Tails could hear the smirk in her answer and just let out an annoyed sigh, trying to ignore what had happened, and took a look at the door. There was a circuit, to check if the door was opened, and a simple lock. It almost felt too easy. The circuit was disabled easily and the lock clicked open a few moments after. He opened the door. Nothing happened, no alarm that went off, no trap that blew up. The circuit and the lock, that was all the security.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Tails nervously said“Aren’t secret bases supposed to be better secured than this?”

Fiona shrugged, “Just check if there is anybody so we can get out of this corridor.”    
  
“Fine, fine.” He peeked outside of the door; the hum of machinery filled the air and he saw a large room filled to the brim with large machinery, with small, metal gridded walkways that led through the maze. “I don’t see anything-” Tails yelped in surprise as Fiona shoved him into the room. He stumbled, but managed to avoid falling on his face. He turned to face Fiona, an amused smirk on her face.

“Why did you do that?”

“You were taking too long,” she casually said. She scanned the room before settling her gaze on him. He nervously took a few steps back. 

“Here is how we’re going to do it,” she began quietly. “You follow me and open any door that is locked while keeping quiet. Got it?” 

“Ye-” Tails quickly shut his mouth as Fiona cracked her knuckles, settling for a curt nod instead. 

She smirked at him. “Quick learner.” She walked off towards one of the doors.

Tails just snapped his teeth in annoyance, ears flat against his head as he followed after her.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aside from the hum of machinery and their own footsteps, the base was silent. Just a labyrinth of metal gridded walkways running through machinery that continued on in both directions. Tails could recognize parts for energy generation, water filtration, and even air filters. Whoever had built this installation was prepared for a full-on siege.

Underneath the hum of the machinery, Tails could barely hear footsteps on the gridded walkway. His ears flicked around, trying to make out where they were coming from. But Fiona was already moving. Grabbing him by the arm, she roughly pulled him aside.

“Don’t just stand around,” she hissed in his ear. “Hide.”

“Where?” Tails hissed back as he pulled himself loose of her grip. The next intersection in the walkway was too far away to reach before the guard would round the corner, and the walkway was just as bare. 

Fiona rolled her eyes as she climbed over the railing. “Nobody ever looks down.”

“You can’t be serious. You fell of a cliff a few hours ago, and now you want to jump off a bunch of machinery and do it all over again? What if it can’t hold you?”

“You can fly can’t you? Now either follow me or stand here and be caught, it’s all the same to me.” 

Tails let a growl of frustration at that. She jumped and clasped onto the machinery, quickly clambering downwards and squeezing herself into one of the nooks and crannies. Tails could barely make her out in between the clutter. 

The footsteps were quickly growing closer. Tails hurried over the railing with a bit more difficulty than Fiona. He judge the distance, ignoring how all his instincts screamed at him to move his tails and take off. To fly the distance instead of jumping it. But he couldn’t risk the approaching guard hearing him. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and jumped.   
  


The machinery groaned and his hand ached from the impact. He pressed himself as close against the machinery as possible before he shuffled downwards. 

When the guard rounded the corner, Tails huddled as close to the machinery as he could. 

The guard continued with clanking footsteps, clad from head to toe in form-fitting armor, his helmet sculpted to resemble a faceless Mobian. Tails’ ears flattened against his head in shock.

That wasn’t a suit of armor. It was too slender, not enough space in there for a Mobian. That was a Robian, and they weren’t in a Robotnik facility;hat egomaniac couldn’t help slapping his logo on everything. They were dealing with a person who either had the ability to transform people into Robians, or somebody who didn’t mind repurposing Robians for their own ends. He honestly didn’t know which option frightened him more.

The Robian paused and looked around, it’s lifeless eyes scanning its environment. Tails went as still as he could. When the Robian continued on its path and left their sight, Tails let out a sigh of relief he hadn’t known he had been holding. 

He heard Fiona crawl out of her nook and began to crawl back up himself. It didn’t take them very long to get back up.

“What has you so shaken up?” Fiona said as soon as he set foot on the walkway. Her tail impatiently flicking behind her, she smirked. “One little guard in armor too much for the brave Freedom Fighter Tails?”

“That was a Robian.” 

Fiona just gave him a dumbfounded stare. Her ears went flat against her head and her tail curled around her legs. That gave way to an angry glare as she she took a step closer to him. “This isn’t the time to be joking around. Only Robotnik knows how to create those  _ things  _ and this isn’t one of his lairs. Why would a Robian be guarding this place?”

“I... I don’t know,” Tails said, his tails nervously flicking behind him as he rubbed his forearms. “I have no clue what it’s doing here. But I can recognize a Robian when I see it. ”

“It... you c... fuck it,” Fiona snarled as she started pacing. Her fur bristled as she wrung her hands, she took a few deep breaths and she visibly calmed down. “Robians or not. It doesn’t change the plan. We just have to keep pressing on.”

“Plan? We’re aimlessly wandering around. How’s that a plan?” Tails took a step back, hitting the railing as Fiona turned towards him, eyes glaring a hole in his head and fists clenched.

“Well, then, do you have any better ideas?” 

“Yes.” Tails tried to ignore the foul look she gave him and continued on. “A base this big has to have a map of it. They’re also using Robians, and those will most likely have a digital version uploaded into their brain. If I can access the system, I can get my hands on that map, and we can actually, you know, plan.”

“And how do plan to do that? You don’t have anything but scraps.” She gestured at the parts of his sensor that were still in his toolbelt.

Tails straightened up, meeting Fiona’s glare with his own stare. “I’ve cracked Robotnik’s computers with less. This shouldn’t even be a challenge. Just give me some time and I’ll put something together.” 

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Fiona scoffed. “Fine, but if you screw it up, I’m leaving you behind.” She turned around and walked off heading away from the direction the guard had gone. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tails peeked around the corner. A single Robian stood guard to a room that had a clear view of the corridor. Luckily the room was empty. Probably a checkpoint that hadn’t been put in use yet. 

“Now what?” Fiona hissed in his ear. 

“Can you distract it for a while?” Tails whispered back. “I’ll be in and out before you even know it.”

“Distract it? While you do what exactly?” she snarled.

Tails yelped in pain as she gripped his shoulder, hard.

“How else am I supposed to get inside without it noticing?” he hissed back, pushing the hand off his shoulder, rubbing the sore spot. “We need that map, and I don’t see way of sneaking past it.”

“Right, as if you aren’t just going to leave me behind as soon as you have that map.”

“That’s what  _ you _ would do.” Tails gritted his teeth in frustration, his fur bristling. “Maybe if you stopped thinking that everybody would betray you as quickly as you would betray them, then you might actually have people around that care about you, instead of jerks who don’t care they almost blew you up.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had screwed up. Fiona’s face twisted in anger. He brought his arms up to guard his face, but he was too slow. 

He saw stars and fell backwards on the gridded walkway with a loud clang that seemed to echo off the corridor walls. He groggily stared up at the ceiling and propped himself up on an elbow, bringing his other hand up to rub at his injury.

“Intruder Detected!” a mechanical voice screeched as the Robian stomped closer. 

Tails saw realisation dawn on Fiona’s face. He looked over his shoulder at the approaching Robian. It aimed a large gun at the both of them, he heard the crackle of electricity as it charged up.

“Don’t just lay there!” Fiona yelled as she made a grab towards him. The gun fired and she yelped in shock as the electricity arced between them and hit the gridded floor. Tails could feel his limbs go tingly as it coursed through the floor.

“Submit, or force will be used!” the Robian screeched as the gun whined, loudly charging up once more. 

Tail’s pushed himself to his feet. Fiona grabbed him by the collar and pulled him behind the wall. The bolt of electricity cracked against the wall. 

“Crap, crap, crap,” Tails muttered under his breath as he started to run. Wracking his brain for any way to get the Robian off their trail. 

“Less yelling and more thinking!”

The loud clanging of footsteps filled the air, accompanied by the whine of the gun. More pairs of footsteps could be heard closing in on their location.

“Back to the cave!” Tails yelled as they rounded a corner. 

“Back to that dead end?” Fiona said incredulously as she followed him. “What good is that going to do?”

“I don’t know. It might throw them off our trail for a while? You have any other ideas?” Tails groaned as another Robian stepped into their way, raising his gun at them. “Oh, no...”

“Halt!” it screeched.   

Tails saw Fiona square her shoulders and barrel into the Robian, shoulder first. It didn’t fall, instead it smoothly took a step backwards, grabbing Fiona and holding her in a vice grip. Tails’ fur stood on end. That wasn’t normal; Robians were slow. Slow to act, slow to react. The mind inside fought against their programming, and that slowed down their systems. But these ones weren’t.

“Let me go, you tin can!” Fiona growled as she struggled and kicked in the creature's grip. Her feet found purchase on the thing’s metal chest and she pushed. Her shirt tore and she tumbled to the ground, uickly recovering as she rolled back on her feet. Leaving the Robian with just a fistfull of cloth.

Tails jumped, twirling his tails to give himself extra speed, and slammed feet first into the Robian’s chest, sending it toppling to the ground with a loud crash. 

“Just keep moving,” Tails said, more to himself than anybody else. He ran past the fallen Robian.

“Yeah, that might be slightly too late,” Fiona snarked. Two Robians rounded the corner in front of them. Blocking their way. A quick look over his shoulder confirmed that not only was the Robian they knocked down already back on his feet, but the first Robian, the one who sounded the alarm, was quickly gaining on them and already aiming his gun.

“Dam-” Tails heard the crack of electricity and tasted copper in his mouth as he felt his body spasm. He hit the metal floor, face first. His body was numb, sounds warping as his head swam; it felt as if his entire body was made out of jello and the air stank of burnt fur. The metal footsteps got closer and closer, and he could heard the whine of a charging gun. He didn’t even feel the second shock hit him in the back as he was knocked unconscious.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tails was brought back to consciousness as somebody dunked cold water over his head. He sputtered and gasped for air. Shaking his head to get the water out of his fur. He struggled a bit to get up, but two Robians were keeping a firm hold on him, pressing him to the floor. He didn’t feel the weight of his toolbelt, and his eyes shot open in horrifying realisation. They had the shard of anarchy beryl, and worse, he didn’t see Fiona in the room with him.

“Finally, you are awake. Answer our questions and this process will be painless.” 

Tails craned his neck upwards to get a look at the interrogator. A Mobian jackal looked down at Tails with uncaring brown eyes. Tails couldn’t see any weapons on him, though the jackal’s dark grey uniform could be concealing some. Either they were well hidden, or the jackal didn’t think Tails was enough of a threat to need them. With the Robians around and the relaxed way the mobian was standing, arms folded behind his back, Tails thought it was probably the latter. And he was even inclined to agree with it.   
  


“Who are you? Where is Fio-?” Tails yelped in pain as one of the Robians gave him a zap with the gun. It barely left a tingle, but the message was very clear.

“We are asking the questions here, Tails,” the Jackal stated. “How did you find out about the base, and how did you get in so deep without tripping the security system earlier?” There was a dangerous undertone as the jackal glanced towards both of the Robians holding Tails down.

Tails dropped his head back onto the floor and just looked at the man’s feet.

“Not answering will only waste time. I’ll get it out of you one way or another.”

Tails squeezed his eyes shut and took a shaky breath as he heard the now familiar whine of the electrical gun charging up. Shivering slightly as the cold metal barrel was pressed against his back. “Where. is. Fiona.” he ground out.

The gun fired. Tails teared up as the electricity jolted through him and his body spasmed, the Robians keeping his struggling body pushed firmly against the floor. The taste of metal filled his mouth as he bit his tongue. He drew in shaky breaths as the shock subsided, his body still shaking from the experience. 

“Don’t make me repeat myself again,” the jackal stated. “I ask the questions, you answer them.” 

As if on cue, the gun started to whine, slightly louder, and Tails tried to inch away from it. But the two Robians kept him pinned to the spot.

  
“Don’t think you can outlast the torture, Miles,” the jackal calmly stated as he knelt down in front of Tails. Grabbing Tails by the fur on top of his head and dragged it up. Forcing Tails to look at him. “Only one way to make this stop.”

Tails met the jackal’s eyes with a defiant stare. He closed his eyes when he felt the cold metal of the stun gun pressed against his back again, bracing himself for the next shock. 

“Stubborn.” The jackal sighed as he let go of Tails’s fur. His head dropped to the floor.   
  


The pain was worse than last time. The heat of the electricity raced through him, his body spasming at it’s touch, forcing the breath out of him, and the vice-like grip of the Robians pushing him against the floor. The pain lingered even after the shock subsided.

Tails drew in shaky breaths as he tried to force a weak grin on his face. Trying to show more confidence than he actually felt. “Sonic knows where I am... the entire Acorn kingdom knows where I am. When they get back, they’ll bring you down.”

The jackal smiled. “Let’s humor you and assume they do know where you are,” he said with amusement in his voice. “Let’s assume they won’t give up after the cave collapses during their digging and they won’t assume you’re dead. How long do you think it will take them to dig through the rubble and unearth the cave system our base is located in? Days? Weeks? A month?” He chuckled, a humorless sound. “More than enough time to break you, Tails.”

Tails’ courage fell at the jackal’s explanation, mind racing for an answer, anything he could retort.  But… he was right, there was no guarantee that the Freedom Fighters would find him… 

No. They would find him. They never left anybody behind. Never did, and they weren’t going to start now, he knew that. But they needed time, and the harder he resisted, the worse his own chances became. He slumped against the ground. Despite the reasoning behind it... it still felt dirty to give in.

“We... we found the base by accident,” Tails managed to say, his throat feeling like sandpaper. “We got stuck in the cave system and followed a river until we came to the cooling installation.” 

The jackal narrowed his eyes. “Followed a river, that would mea-” he was interrupted by a loud beeping from his communicator. With an annoyed sigh he stood up and looked at the two Robians. “Hold him,” he said before walking through the door.

Tails took the moment to try and catch his breath, trying to put his thoughts back in order.

A few moments later, the jackal came back. Lips pulled back and ears flicking in displeasure. 

“Blindfold him and take him to cell 24A,” he snarled out. “Now!”

The two Robians dragged him past the jackal and before they blindfolded him, he saw the jackal give him a strange look, almost like regret, or pity. Tails swallowed in fear, his ears flattening against his head. 

If whatever was in cell 24A was worse than this, Tails just hoped he could wriggle his way out of this situation, or this might just be his last adventure.


	4. Chapter 4

A small room with bare walls, a single door and two armed Robians just staring at her. That was what Fiona regained consciousness to, and since then, nothing had happened. No Mobian or overlander coming inside to question her, no threats on her life, just nothing. The anxiety of being captured had long vanished, replaced by simple boredom and annoyance.    
  
She pushed herself up to her feet and the two Robians immediately reacted, pointing their guns at her, electricity arcing across the barrels.

“Remain seated or force will be utilized,” one of them screeched at her. She covered her ears at the painful sound and quickly sat back down on the cot. She crossed her arms in irritation. She hoped that somebody would come by soon, before she went mad from boredom.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


Fiona looked up when the jackal walked in. He was wearing an immaculate, dark grey uniform. 

“Finally, I was waiting for one of you to show up,” she said with an easy grin on her face, cutting off whatever the jackal was about to say. “Let’s just cut the threats and the chitchat. If you let me join your organization, then I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.” 

The jackal just stared at her, his upper lip curling, baring his teeth in disgust. His tail flicked behind him. “Really? I haven’t even started with the questions and you are already willing to sell everybody out? Not even going to attempt to put up a resistance, no concern about your friend? Miles is a  _ child _ and didn’t fold this quickly.”

“And you got what you wanted out of him in the end, didn’t you? I’m just cutting out the pain for me and the effort for you.”

“How pragmatic,” he spat out. “I wonder if Miles thinks the same about it, though?”

Fiona turned away from the jackal’s piercing gaze. Tails’ words crawled back to the forefront of her mind. She closed her eyes and shoved them out of her head. Tails was a naive child, he didn’t get how the world worked, he clung to things like friendship and loyalty. But she knew what mattered in the end: your own skin. Tails would see that soon, and hopefully, this time the lesson would stick.

“I don’t give a damn about what Tails thinks. Are you going to take me up on the offer or not?” she hissed, gaze firmly on the jackal’s feet.

“You still haven’t given me a reason to entertain the offer. You betray without even thinking twice, so you double-crossing us is a real possibility, and if it comes down to it, I can get the information I want out of you without your cooperation.” The way he dropped that little bit of information, as if he was just talking about what he needed from the grocery store, made her feel sick to her stomach.

“Maybe, but I know that you’re desperate for manpower.” Fiona forced herself to look back at the jackal’s face, tried to act more confident than she felt. “Robians have their uses, but at the end of they day, they’re inflexible and dumb. The fact you have used them as much as you have means you have no better option than them. That’s why you should ‘entertain the offer.’ I’m a Mobian, I can do things a Robian can’t, and you don’t have a lot of Mobians around.”

For a few moments, all the jackal did was coldly stare at her as he mulled her words over. “You are observant, I’ll give you that. I’ll take your offer. But only if you cooperate from now on,”  he calmly stated. ”No lies, no half-truths or keeping information hidden as you answer my questions. If you do,” he gave her a smile that was about as friendly as a drawn knife, “I’ll make sure you’ll regret it.”

Fiona nodded. “Then what do you want to know?”

“Let’s begin with the beginning,” the jackal said. ”Our base is well-hidden and well-guarded, how did you find and get into it?” 

“We stumbled across it when we were trying to find a way out of the cave system,” Fiona began. “We found some kind of machine - Tails said it was a cooling thing of some sort - and managed to get in through a maintenance corridor. There was barely any security until we ran into the Robians.”

“The cooling...” he shook his head in disbelief. “How did you even get there?”

“I scaled down the cliff face; Tails was a decent enough lifeline.” 

Fiona smiled as the jackal’s calm demeanor cracked for a moment. He was stunned 

“The nearly-twenty-meters high cliff face? The one with the waterfall, making it slick and nearly impossible to climb, even with climbing gear?” 

“That’s the one.” Her smile widened as the jackal shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he rubbed the top of his muzzle. 

The jackal let out a deep sigh. “We need to update our security so it accounts for complete morons.”

Fiona’s fur bristled at that comment, but she just grit her teeth and kept calm. The armed Robians standing at the door provided enough encouragement for that.

“That still doesn’t explain everything. Why did you come that deep into the cave system in the first place?” the jackal demanded after he had regained his composure. 

“We… got stuck in the caves.” She scowled as she thought back to the events that started this entire mess. “Tails’ friends would have been back soon with heavy digging equipment, but that would have brought down the rest of the cave on our heads, because of it being unstable, or something like that.”

The jackal narrowed his eyes at her. “That part of the caves is indeed unstable, but it shouldn’t have collapsed on its own, and we know you. First and last warning: don’t hide information from me if you want me to take your offer seriously.” He gave her a cold glare. “People rarely displease us more than once.”

“I was getting to it,” Fiona snapped. “Scourge wanted to get the jump on Sonic the Hedgehog. We had lured him and Tails towards a remote place, far away from the kingdom, and we had planned to lure Tails in a cave, where I would keep him busy so that Scourge could beat down Sonic without him interfering.” She bristled, balling her fists. “Apparently, Scourge thought he needed a way to escape if things didn’t go as planned, and had charges planted around the cave by Bean the Duck.” 

There was a glint of satisfaction in the jackal’s eyes at that little piece of knowledge.    
  
“Seems like your friends didn’t even have to think twice about throwing you away. Probably the best way of handling you, given your history.”

Fiona glared at the jackal, her fists tightening, and she had to fight the urge to punch him in the face. The asshole’s words dragged parts of Tails’ angry tirade back into her mind. 

_“If you stopped thinking that everybody_ _will_ _betray you as quickly as you would betray them, then you might actually have people around you who care about you!”_

“Just keep asking questions,” she tersely said.

“I’m just stating the obvious,” the jackal said, satisfaction glinting in his eyes. “Traitors are dangerous to have around. But if you insist, you mentioned Bean the duck; I know for a fact that he’s part of trio of mercenaries that calls themselves the Hooligans. Do you also work with them?”

“No, Bark the Polarbear was around with us. But Nac the Weasel didn’t work with us,” Fiona replied.

“And why was that?” the jackal motioned for her to continue.

“He thought Scourge was a prick, told the other two to call him when they left Scourge before buggering off.” She shrugged. “Didn’t give it anymore thought; he always got on my nerves.”

The jackal motioned towards one of the Robians standing behind him. It raised its gun at her as the other one opened the door. “We’re done here, for now.” 

Fiona gave a quick glance at the gun. “And what about our deal! I cooperated. You’d better hold up your side of the bargain.” 

The jackal gave her a glance, tail flicking and teeth bared in disgust. “You’d better remember your position, Fiona,” he said in an icy voice. “But to answer your question, you are indeed hired. You will be released from your cell as soon as I have figured out what I scraps I can trust somebody like  _ you _ with.”  

The jackal left without another word, one of the Robians following him, and the door slammed shut behind him. Leaving Fiona behind with nothing but a silent Robian and her own thoughts for company.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

T he Robians dragged Tails through the complex, flanking him, with each arm held in a vice-like grip. He couldn’t see anything through the blindfold securely tied around his face, and the sound of heavy, clanking boots stomping on the metal floor hurt his ears. His mind was conjuring up whatever horrors could be in cell 24A. The jackal hadn’t even flinched as Tails was being shocked. What kind of torture had to be behind those doors, to make a man like that feel pity? A roboticizer? A better equipped torture room? The Robians came to a harsh stop and he heard a sliding door open. They shoved him into the room and he braced himself for a hard landing on the cold metal floor.   
  
Instead of a hard and cold metal floor, like he expected, he fell on something soft. He pulled off the blindfold and stared in surprise at his surroundings. This didn’t look like any cell he ever seen before; cells didn’t have nice furniture and soft carpets. He pushed himself on his feet, groaning as his body ached from the mistreatment. No time to take a breather, though; he needed to find out where Fiona was, and figure a way out of this mess.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tails was still checking the room for surveillance bugs, and anything else out of place, when the sliding door opened. He turned around. A female caracal walked inside the room and gave him a friendly smile. There were no Robians flanking her, she wasn’t carrying anything in her hands, and he blushed slightly as he saw her dress. He didn’t think she was capable of hiding anything under that dress without it showing through.

The woman’s smile brightened. “You enjoying the view, Miles?” 

“I... no... I wasn’t looking at that,” Tails sputtered out. He felt his cheeks heat up and he looked her in the eyes, refusing to look down. 

She gave an apologetic smile. “I… I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I was trying to lift the mood a little.” 

“Didn’t think an interrogator cared much about the mood,” Tails snapped, “You going to pick up where the Jackal left off?”

“No,  _ no, _ I’m not,” the caracal said forcefully. “As soon as I found out what Gregory was doing, I put a stop to it. I just told him to question you and your compatriot. He took it way too far.”    
  
She took a few deep breaths to calm down. “Are you still in pain or hurting? I can call for Dr. Alyona immediately.”   
  
Tails still felt sore all over. But he could manage. He didn’t trust this mysterious stranger’s offer of medical attention just yet either. So he  _ would _ manage. “No, I’m fine. Just some burnt fur and things I can just sleep off.” 

“That’s good to hear,” she said with a sigh of relief. “But please, if something changes, don’t hesitate to ask for medical attention.” She walked closer to Tails and held out her hand. “My Name is Cassandra Rooikat. The head researcher of this base. I apologize for the rough treatment by my head of security.”

Tails just folded his arms. “Where is Fiona?” 

Cassandra’s smile faltered and she retracted her hand. “She is fine. I… I don’t know how to put this gently. But Gregory reported that she offered to join up as soon as he entered her cell.”

Tails’ fists clenched, his heart felt as if it was being squeezed. He felt his eyes burn. He turned away from his interrogator. 

Fiona, doing whatever she needed to save her own skin. He knew what she was like; it wasn’t even a surprise to him that she had done this. So why did he keep making this mistake over and over again? Why, after all this time, and all the bad things she had done to him and his friends, why did he still care, why did it still hurt when she did something? He took a shuddering breath and met his interrogator’s eyes again. He couldn’t let something as stupid as this crack him.

“I’m sorry to tell you this,” Cassandra added. “A betrayal like that must come like quite a shock.” 

“It doesn’t,” Tails said in a voice that sounded pathetic to his own ears, shoulders slumped as he ran a hand through his hair. “I should’ve seen it coming, really.” 

Cassandra reached out and put her hand on his arm. “I know how you feel, Miles. I’ve had my own share of betrayals in my life, and they all hurt.”    
  
Tails jolted up straight at the contact. He pulled his arm away from her, awkwardly rubbing at it as he gave her a confused stare. “I don’t want to talk about  _ it _ , especially not with  _ somebody who is keeping me imprisoned. _ ”

“You’re  _ not  _ a prisoner, Miles. You’re my guest, and from now on will be treated as such. Cold and unfurnished quarters are no place to keep any guest, especially one as gifted as you. If you ask, we will provide it, if we are able. With supervision, you are even allowed to use the workshop and other facilities in the base.” 

“If I’m not a prisoner, am I allowed to leave?” Tails already knew the answer to this question before he even asked it. Nobody who put as much time and effort into keeping their base hidden would just let somebody go.

“I… can’t allow that,” Cassandra said, hesitation in her voice as she wrung her hands. “I’m sorry, Miles. But Gregory is very insistent about this. Our secrecy is paramount.” 

“Secrecy, torturing people, use of Robians, and holding people against their will,” Tails scoffed. “You’re not painting a particularly good picture of your organization.”

“Gregory told me that these measures are necessary for my own and my research’s safety.  The world is a dangerous place, Miles.” Cassandra’s ears flattened against her head. “And it hasn’t been kind to me. Without Gregory, I don’t know how I would’ve survived.”

Gregory just kept coming up in the conversation. He was the one who decided that secrecy was paramount for Cassandra’s safety, and used every single method he could to brutally protect that secrecy. His success, at whatever the cost; the guy sounded just as bad as Scourge.

Tails rubbed his face. This entire situation just got worse and worse by the minute.

“I know this looks bad to you, but I assure you, Gregory wouldn’t do any of this without a good reason. He only does what’s best to keep me, and from now on you, as well, safe. You have my word on that.”

Tails snorted; he highly doubted that. “So what about my things? Can I get those back, at least?”

“Well... no,” Cassandra started, but was cut of by Tails.   
  
“So I don’t get my things back,” Tails gritted his teeth in frustration, “I can’t leave, I can’t move around without supervision. How is any of this different from being a prisoner?!” 

Cassandra was a bit taken aback by his outburst. Ears going flat against her head as she shrunk away from him.

“It’s for  _ our _ safety,” she said in an unsure voice. “You could call for help with the emergency beacons. As for the shard, I’ve detected an energy signature extremely similar to a chaos emerald’s energy signature. I’m sorry, Miles. But I don’t trust you enough to let you hold on something that powerful.”

“And I don’t trust what you or Gregory could do with it.” He crossed her arms and met her gaze.   
  
Cassandra’s smile tightened, “That leaves us at a bit of an impasse.” She sighed and stood up. “I’ll leave you be for now, let your cool your head a bit and give you the chance to think all of this over.” She looked at him and gave him a sad look. “But Miles, please try to understand. Despite the… rough introduction, I’m not your enemy. I’m just trying to keep myself and you safe.” 

Tails gave an indignant huff. 

Cassandra’s smile fell and she started towards the door. She stopped in front of it and gave a quick look over her shoulder at him. “See you soon, Miles.” 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fiona sat up when the door slid open and the jackal walked into the cell, another Robian following him closely.   
  
“We worked out the details of your employment with us,” the jackal said, teeth bared in disgust. “You’ll be working with Doctor Alyona in the medbay. She will be your immediate superior. You give her any trouble, and there will be consequences. Understood?”

“Crystal clear.” Fiona resisted the urge to snap at the asshole.

“Good, then follow me.” He turned towards the Robian that had been guarding her. “Resume normal operation procedures.” The addressed Robian followed the both of them.    
  
Fiona followed the jackal out of the door, giving a glance at the jackal’s guard. The Robian met her gaze with its own. The empty eyes bored into her. She shuddered and the fur on her neck stood on end. She quickly broke eye contact with the thing and tried not to think about the fact that a Mobian mind was trapped inside that machine. As long as it wasn’t her, there wasn’t any reason to care about that… right?   
  
The walk through the base was long, confusing, and uncomfortably silent, except for the Robians heavy footsteps and faraway sounds of construction. No other Mobians that they passed in the hallway, no sounds of chatter or conversation between staff. The base felt dead and lifeless, like a ghost town. 

They came to a stop in front of a door marked with a simple red cross. The door slid open and Gregory gestured for her to step inside. “Dr. Alyona will explain your tasks and will get you clued in on how this all works.” He gave her a cold look. “You step out of line, I will know, and I will be forced to  _ terminate  _ your position.” 

“Understood, sir,” she said, fuming as she walked into the medbay. The door slid closed behind her. “As if you wouldn’t jump at the chance for that, you asshole,” she hissed under her breath.

“So, good old Gregory gave you the usual welcoming,” a low voice rumbled. Fiona jumped in surprise, turning towards the voice and looking up and… up, craning her neck as she looked upwards at the Grizzly Bear’s face. The woman was massive, standing at least two full heads taller than her.

“He’s like that to everybody then?” she carefully asked. The bear Mobian looked as if she could snap Fiona in half with ease, if she pissed her off. So she was inclined to play it safe.   
  
Alyona shrugged. “Pretty much. But as long as you don’t give him a reason, he won’t have to get rough with you.” The bear shuddered at the thought. “But let's not think of that, I don’t want to have nightmares.” She lumbered over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a bag that she casually threw over to Fiona.   
  


Fiona barely caught the bag, stumbling a bit backwards from the impact. 

“That’s your new uniform, it’s a one-size-fits-all kinda thing. Your new ID badge is in there, as well,” she explained, before pointing at a door. “Hurry up and get dressed, you’ll get the training on the job. But it shouldn’t be anything too difficult.” 

Fiona hurried into the room, more a storage closet than anything else, and quickly put on the uniform, a baggy set of overalls, using the clasps and belts to tighten it so it fit. Though it still looked like a formless mess at the end of it. She clipped the ID badge to her chest and walked back out.

“I’m ready,” Fiona announced. The Grizzly Bear looked up and gave her a smile that had way too many teeth. 

“Great. Don’t worry, the work you’ll have to do won’t be anything difficult for somebody of your qualifications. You’re mostly here to help me with general day-to-day upkeep of the facility, restocking the supplies, sterilizing tools before use, and general cleaning. Easy things that a medic like you has done a thousand times,” she said. “I’m really glad you joined up, takes a lot of that work out of my hands so I can focus on the more important things. It does mean that I set up a whole lot of equipment for nothing though,” Alyona said with a sigh.   
  


A chill went down Fiona’s spine at that casual comment. What the heck would’ve happened to her if she hadn’t joined up? 

“Equipment?” she asked, a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach.   
  
“Yeah, hadn’t been able to use it in a long while, so I even got a bit excited about being able to use it all again.” She shook her head in disappointment. “At least I don’t have to stow it all away by myself now do I?” Alyona walked through another door, deeper into the medbay. “Let’s get that out of the way, and then I can get you started on your regular work!” 

Fiona reluctantly followed her through the door and her mouth fell open in horror at the sight. An examination table sat in the middle of the floor with heavy leather straps attached to it. The deep scratches in the metal said enough about the willingness of it occupants. 

Her eyes wandered over the rest of the equipment. Her ears flattened against her head as she imagined being strapped to that table, Alyona hovered over her, the tools in her paws.

“Fiona?” Alyona’s voice brought her out of her thoughts. Fiona plastered a smile on her face. 

“Sorry, I… I got a bit distracted by it all.” She tried to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She started helping Alyona clean up the tools. She didn’t think about their use, she didn’t focus on what she was handling. 

Grab the tools, sterilize them, bag them up, put them in the spot Alyona told her to, and try to ignore the Bear’s explanations of what they were used for.

That was all that mattered for now.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Fiona leaned over the sink of her cramped quarters, splashing her face with the cold water. . She tiredly toweled off her face and gave a look in the mirror.

She looked like a mess. Fur sticking out everywhere and red rimmed eyes. She gritted her teeth in annoyance and threw the towel back on the rack.   
  
Pathetic. 

Why was she  _ now  _ giving a shit about the bad things her employers did? She had done bad things her entire life, toeing the line until she got a chance to escape. She had done terrible things; she had worked for Finitus for crying out loud! That guy wanted to burn down Mobius and rework it into his image. Even Scourge thought that Finitus was nuts.   
  
She growled in annoyance and kicked the side of her metal bunk, pushing the green hedgehog out of her mind. She didn’t want to think about that asshole.

She’d stolen things for people, she broken some legs and fought against people, just to give a bad guy a shot to do their evil plans, and she’d done it without a second thought. Her entire life, she’d done everything she could to protect herself, to  _ survive. _ So why did this freak her out? Why was she getting second thoughts now?

  
  
  


Alyona had been very clear about it. If she hadn’t switched sides, then she would have ended up on the table with the doctor hovering over her. 

Her mind conjured up a nightmarish vision of Tails strapped to the table. Alyona hovering over him, tools in hand, with Fiona being forced to help. If she knew Tails half as well as she thought he did, that wasn’t an unlikely situation. Her stomach twisted and she slumped onto her bed, shoving that thought out of her head . She didn’t give a shit about anybody, not even Tails. She grit her teeth.  _ Especially _ not the naive, goody two-shoes Tails, who didn’t know anything about how the world worked. 

Her tail flicked in irritation. She shouldn’t care about others. Everybody was out for themselves and it wasn’t  _ her  _ fault if they weren’t as good at surviving as she was. It wasn’t  _ her  _ fault if they didn’t know how the world worked and trusted the wrong people. And if the tables were turned, she was sure  _ anybody _ , even goody two-shoes Tails, would’ve done the same thing. They would’ve ignored the question of what was right and wrong, they would’ve taken whatever choice that made them live another day.  _ They _ would’ve sold her out to save their own fur. Just like she had sold others out. 

Just like her parents had sold  _ her _ out.

Her eyes narrowed with determination.  _ Anybody _ would’ve done the same, and she was going to  _ prove  _ that to Tails, smashing his naive worldview whether he liked it or not.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

  
Tails was fairly sure there weren’t any more surveillance bugs in his cell.  He had double and triple checked everything and now at the end of his fourth pass he couldn’t find any new ones. There had been a suspicious lack of bugs in his bedroom and bathroom and the few he had found were audio only. It didn’t feel right,but he had searched every nook and cranny in those rooms, where else could there be bugs?

He walked over to the desk in the living area and took a few of the disabled surveillance bugs off the pile, hiding them in his pocket, before sweeping the rest of them into the trash bin. He stomped in the trash bin, the fragile electronics snapping into useless shards of metal, silicon and twisted wires without much effort.    
  
Tails dropped into the desk chair and rubbed his head. That was that task done. He leaned slightly back in the chair. 

Now what? He still didn’t have a plan to get out of here. Aside from basic scraps he could scrounge together from the room and the listening devices he pilfered, he had no resources. Sure Cassandra had told him that he could ask for anything. But he doubted they would give him something  _ useful _ . And Fiona certainly wasn’t goi…   
  
He angrily scratched the top of his head and stood up, roughly kicking the chair back. He had better things to do than to mull on _ her _ .  His thoughts were cut short as the door slid open and Cassandra walked into the room. Tails quickly faced her. She was wearing that dress again. So he kept his gaze firmly on her face.

“Good morning Tails,” she said with a bright smile.   
  
Tails looked at Cassandra with confusion in his eyes. His ears flicking up. 

“Good morning?” He tilted his head in confusion. It couldn’t already be morning, could it? But now that she mentioned it, he could feel the soreness of his muscles, and his eyelids had been feeling a bit heavy.   
  
“Miles, have you slept at all tonight? You look terrible.” Cassandra said, concern laced through her voice. 

“There was a tonight?” Tails grunted out as he rubbed his hand over his eyes and his muzzle. “I hadn’t really noticed.”

“Yes, there was. What have you been doing all night to get you this distracted?” She took a few steps closer towards him. 

Tails tilted the trash bin towards her, giving her a good look at the shattered listening devices inside. “Securing a bit of privacy. A  _ guest  _ can have that, right?”

“They can,” Cassandra said as she averted her eyes from him. Ears flat against her head, shame clear in her voice. “You had a point. Just saying you aren’t a prisoner didn’t change the fact that I was still treating you like one in nearly all respects, and for that, I’m sorry.”

Tails blinked, he hadn’t expected that. “So, no more listening devices?” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, trying to get a read on her. Was she trying to lull him a false sense of security, or was it genuine?

“No more listening devices,” she said with a smile. “But that isn’t the only good news I have for you.” She offered him a small tablet. 

Tails took it and with a bit of searching found the power button to power it on. “Why are you giving me this?” He asked wearily as it slowly booted up, frowning a bit at the unfamiliar logo and boot screen. Great, an unique operating system, that might make jailbreaking the thing a bit more difficult.

“It’s a show of good faith from my end. I’m sure you’ll like it.” As soon as the tablet had booted completely, she made a gesture with her hand. A program started up on the tablet.   
  
Tails’ fur stood on end as he  _ felt  _ a faint but familiar energy hum through the air. Chaos energy.  

“What did you do?” Tails stared at Cassandra with wide eyes, the tablet momentarily forgotten.

“Oh this?” Cassandra took a step closer to him, and without even a gesture, flicked through a few screens.“It’s something I developed myself after my studies into chaos energy. I call it Technomancy, the ability to manipulate  _ any _ technology as if it’s an extension of yourself, no implants required.” 

That... sounded unbelievable. There always needed to be some kind of connection between the nervous system and the system to make something like that work. Tails’ eyes went wide as it clicked in his mind.   
  


“Chaos energy... You’re using chaos energy to forge a link between the object and your own nervous system.” He looked at Cassandra. “How, did you do that?”

“You catch on quick,” she said as she leaned in close to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.   
  
Tails tensed up slightly and gave her an unsure look.    
  
She returned a kind smile, unaware of Tails’ discomfort. “As for how I did it? It’s a long and complicated story that I unfortunately don’t have the time to get into in this meeting,” she said in an apologetic tone. “I came here just to give you the tablet. As a bit of a token of goodwill. I’ve put great effort into building the most expansive library on Mobius.”

She tapped on the tablet. “A digital one, to which this tablet is linked. Restored and digitized pre-war literature, scientific journals, and even some of my own dissertations on chaos energy and it’s behavior and uses. You can find all of that, and more, on it.”

“That’s… a very big token of goodwill?” Tails said as he scrolled through the tablet. Occasionally giving Cassandra’s hand on his shoulder a nervous glance.

“I’ll leave you alone for a bit. Give you the time to read through the library. Hopefully you’ll understand that we’re better off not treating each other as enemies.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze before moving away. “See you soon, Miles.”

Tails looked at the door for a few more moments after Cassandra had left. Not sure what to think about all this, or about her. He shook his head; no matter. This tablet and Cassandra were his best leads to finding a way out of this mess.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Finding out where Tails was being held was easy. Sure, nobody but Alyona bothered to talk to Fiona. But you would be surprised at what you could find out, if you kept your ears open and stayed out of sight of other people. As soon as she overheard “Cell 24A,” it was just a matter of looking it up on the map, taking note of the Robians’ static patrol routes, and swiping Alyona’s keycard while she was working on some of her research. The Bear wouldn’t miss it for a few hours while she was concentrating on that. For all Alyona’s paranoia about being unnoticed, she apparently didn’t care much about her internal security. 

Fiona walked up to the cell door and swiped Alyona’s keycard over the reader. The door opened, and she walked inside.

Fiona smirked as Tails jerked up from his seat at the sound of the door opening. Nearly dropping a tablet on the floor. Tails bared his teeth at her as soon as he saw her uniform.

“Oh, it’s  _ you _ ,” Tails said in a voice, she could hear the effort to keep himself from snapping at her. His fingers tightened around the tablet he was holding.“Why are you here?” he spat out.

“Can’t I just drop in and see how you’re doing?” Fiona made a show of looking at the room. “A lot better than me, it seems. Look at the room they gave you. If they’re treating you like this when you’re a prisoner, just imagine what they’re gonna give you when you actually join them.” She flopped down on the couch, smiling as she stretched herself out on it’s velvet surface. She sighed contentedly before looking back at Tails. 

“What’s keeping you?”  

“I’m not going to betray my friends for a comfy sofa,” Tails snarked. “I actually have a sense of loyalty, unlike you.”

Fiona sighed. “You think they wouldn't do it if they were in your position? You’re fifteen now, kid. You should stop being naive and face reality. Deep down, everybody is exactly the same.”

Tails was silent, a pensive look on his face as he mulled it over. Fiona just watched, fairly surprised that he wasn’t already in her face and yelling at her in anger. Then again, Tails was a smar-

“Then why are you here?” Tails interrupted her train of thought.

“What?” Fiona blurted out.

“Why. Are.You. Here,” Tails repeated, eyes narrowed in suspicion, “If you’re not here to help me, why are you risking your own fur by sneaking into my cell and trying to convince me that I’m wrong?”

Fiona stared at Tails, jaw slack in shock. “I…” It was because she couldn’t get those words he’d yelled at her out of her head. She wanted to prove him wrong. But she would rather eat her own tail than admit that to him. 

“I was around and decided to drop in,” she snapped as she stood up from the couch, stomping over to him. “What does it even matter?” 

“Because either you get something out of it that’s worth sticking your neck out or you aren’t making any sense. Either tell me, or get out. I don’t want to be around you if I can help it,” Tails snapped, refusing to back down. 

“The only thing that doesn’t make sense here is you,” Fiona growled, throwing her hands up in exasperation.  “You, and that stupid naivety of yours.” She paced across the soft carpet. “Why can’t you get this drilled through your skull? You can only rely on yourself, because everybody is only out for himself.” She turned towards Tails, glaring “Just accept that already.”

“Why is it suddenly so important that I...” a sense of realization dawned on Tails’ face. He bared his teeth at her and balled his fists. His tails flicked in anger. 

“This isn’t about me is it? It’s about you, should have figured that it’s always about  _ you _ .” He spat out the last word.

“Care to actually explain what’s going on in that head of yours, or am I supposed to guess?” Fiona snarked.

“You’re not too sure anymore that everybody is just as bad as you,” Tails said, anger boiling underneath the surface. “That’s why you’re here, that’s why you’re sticking out your own neck. Because if you can’t convince me to betray my friends the way you betrayed me, then you’ll have to face the fact that everything you’ve ever believed about how the world works is WRONG.” 

Fiona froze at those words. Tails just looked up at her with rage sparking in his eyes. 

“I... you...” she stammered out, “you have no idea what I’ve gone through.” 

“So what if you’ve gone through terrible things? With Robotnik around, everybody has!” Tails took a step closer to her, fists balled, fur bristled. Fiona backed away. “But not everybody is running around with criminals and sociopaths, stealing and ruining other people’s lives in the process. They aren’t selling out their friends and stabbing people in the back as soon as they can get something out of it. That’s just you being a... a... a  _ bitch.” _

Fiona had been called much worse than that, and every single time, she had shrugged it off with a laugh. But somehow  _ that _ insult cut deep. Her eyes started to tear up, and she took a shaky breath as she composed herself. She wasn’t going to break down in tears, not in front of anybody else, and especially not in front of Tails.

“And I’m sick of it,” he continued. “I’m sick of you trying to push me around. I’m sick of you pushing the blame away from yourself and acting as if you’re a victim. I’m sick of you acting as if you’ve got it all figured it out, and that decent people are just putting on an act. But, time and time again, you’ve shown me that that’s pretty much all you do. I’m done with it.”  

Tails was breathing heavily, ears flat against his head and shoulders slumped. “I just can’t deal with it anymore,” he said in a shaky tone. “I can’t make you change your mind, and I’m sick of trying.” His voice wavered. “Just... just get out.”

Tails didn’t give her another glance as he turned back to what he had been working on.

“H-hey, you can’t just... this isn’t over.” She grabbed him by the shoulder. Forcing him to look at her.

“Get out or I’ll call security,” Tails said, an edge of rage creeping into his wavering voice as he turned away.

Fiona let go of him and took a step back, ears flat against her head. He wasn’t bluffing.

“R-right,” she stammered, before scampering out of the room, tail tucked between her legs. The door slid closed behind her, leaving her alone in the empty hallway. She slumped against the wall and she let the tears flow. 

There was no point in playing tough, anymore. This wasn’t how it was all supposed to go. Tails was supposed to be a young, naive kid that would crack as soon as she actually put some pressure on him. Not the other way around. She was supposed to win this one, prove to herself and to Tails that everything she did was right.   
  
“Dammit,” she hissed as she put her face in her hands. Memories of her multitudes of betrayals flooded back in her mind. Every single one, she had justified to herself by saying they would do exactly the same, that they were just waiting for the right moment to stab her in the back, and that she needed to beat them to the punch. 

With that excuse ripped away from her, guilt, regret, and shame clung to her shoulders. More memories came back. Sally giving her advice with a kind smile. Amy Rose hefting that big hammer over her shoulder and sending Fiona a sly wink. The moments with Sonic. Antoine calling them for dinner that he had spent hours slaving over. Antoine throwing a fit as they all tried to get a peek at the food before it was ready. Bunnie fussing over her as she was settling in. Tails giving her a shy smile as he glanced up from his current project. The Freedom Fighters, the only group of people that might have given a rat's ass about her, and she had thrown them away. And for what? A guy who didn’t mind putting her life in danger to save his own skin, and the idea that she knew exactly how the world worked.

Heavy footfalls echoed through the hallway, and the reality crashed into her like a runaway freight train. She was still in the middle of the hallway, out in the open with a patrol on the way. She needed to get the hell out. She didn’t think about where she was going or what state she was in. All she knew is that she needed to get out of here,  _ fast. _

\------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


Fiona didn’t know how she had ended up back in the caves; they weren’t even the same set of caves as before, the entire flight was a blur to her. But as soon as the oppressive atmosphere of the base had fallen behind her, she had begun to feel better. The damp and dark caves weren’t really that much of an improvement, but at least it wasn’t a permanent reminder of the trouble she had thrown herself into.    
  
She leaned against the cave wall, brushing her hands through her hair. There wasn’t any choice but to go back to the base. She might have an hour at best to get back to her post before Alyona got wind of her trick, and everything came tumbling down around her.    
  
A little breeze tickled her fur, making her look up in surprise. She was in a cave, there shouldn’t  _ be  _ a breeze here. Unless... 

She followed the sensation, hugging the cave wall, trying to make out anything in the inky darkness.   
  
It didn’t take her long to find the source of it; she shoved a few large boulders aside and she found a natural tunnel that seemed to be big enough to get through. She could see faint light in the distance. Spurred on by curiosity, and even a faint glimmer of freedom, she began crawling. It was a tight fit at some points, but she managed, and at the end of the tunnel, she was greeted by cold and harsh winds, the midday sun hidden beneath the storms brewing on the horizon. A grin came onto her face. By pure luck, she had managed to find an exit. She would never have found it, if it weren’t for the harsh wind of the coming storm. 

She was free. She could just climb down the side of the mountain and leave the base and everybody in it behind.   
  
Including Tails.

Her ears drooped a bit at the thought. She shook her head. Why should she care? Freedom was right in front of her, and Tails had said it himself: he didn’t care about her anymore. He was done with her. Done with her betrayals and done with her antics. It was all over. Why should she risk her freedom for him? She should just get the hell out before things got any worse… and prove him completely right.

She slumped over. 

Tails… wouldn’t have left her to rot. Even now, when he absolutely hated her guts, he still would’ve tried to get her out with him.

He had always been a good kid, as long as she had known him.  Despite everything he had gone through under Dr. Robotnik's rule. Even after she had shattered his trust in her laughed in his face and outright told him nobody was to be trusted.  He had dusted himself off and kept going. 

Even when he completely despised her, he still tried to help her, work with her to make their situation even a little bit less shitty. And she had spat in his face at every turn and in the end turned her back on him. 

_ Again. _

That was probably why _ he _ was surrounded by people who would do everything to keep him safe and happy. While  _ she _ had been thrown away on a whim by the person she thought she could trust. 

And it pained her to admit it, even just to herself, but she wanted to have that so badly, to have people that gave a shit about her. But that chance had passed. Now she was a wanted criminal and she had to far gone to try and make up for her mistakes. Even Tails had washed his hands from her.  
  
Fiona’s gaze hardened.Tails could reject her plea for forgiveness, in fact he probably would, but so what? If she left him behind the she just proved him right. She was a bad guy. And she didn’t want to be a bad guy. She had never wanted to be one. 

It was time to do the  _ right _ thing, for once.


	5. Chapter 5

Tails felt frustrated as he picked at his food. It had been a day since Fiona had showed her face and he had ripped into her excuses. But he still couldn’t get the look on her face out of his head. That look of regret and despair always wormed its way back to the forefront of his mind, no matter what he did.   
  
It  _ had _ to be an act. As soon as he let his guard down around her, she would take advantage of him and laugh in his face for falling for it again. That was how the story always went, and he was sick of being manipulated by her.    
  
Still, it had been a very convincing act. Maybe... Tails grit his teeth and shook his head. No, he wasn’t going down that road. She was just a very good actor, and that was all it was: an act.   
  
With an annoyed sigh he pushed the food away and picked up the tablet. Maybe some reading would help him get this all out of his head. He’d already figured out that his access was heavily regulated. They didn’t even try to hide it. But it could always be that they left something useful for him to access by mistake. Or, perhaps, something that they didn’t think he could use against them.

* * *

Tails snapped his teeth as he closed the file on the tablet, his tails flicking in annoyance. It wasn’t helping to get his mind off Fiona. He snorted. Fiona wasn’t even  _ around  _ and she was still causing him trouble. 

The sound of the door sliding open made him look up from the tablet.    
  
Cassandra walked into the room and gave him a gentle smile. 

“Good day Miles.” She frowned as she saw him. “You seem like you’ve got something on your mind?”

Tails put the tablet down, rubbing the top of his head. Was it really that obvious? 

“I’m fine,” he snapped. A bit of guilt welled up as she winced at that. She didn’t deserve to be snapped at. Bad situation aside, she had been trying to keep him as comfortable as possible during his captivity.   
  


“Miles,” Cassandra started, “I know I might not be the most suitable person for this, but I am always willing to listen if you need to talk about something.” 

Tails grit his teeth as he shook his head. “I don’t wanna talk about it with you,” he paused as he realized how that might sound, “or anybody else. I just want to forget about it.”

Cassandra hesitated a few moments. She looked like she wanted to say something before she shook her head. “I don’t think bottling things up is good for you, Miles. Wouldn’t you feel much better if you got it off your chest?”

He probably would feel better. But talking about it would mean he had to confess that Fiona had been in here, and that… wouldn’t end well for her. He grit his teeth. He  _ didn’t  _ care about Fiona, but selling her out was something  _ she  _ would’ve done, and he was  _ nothing  _ like her. 

“No, I really don’t want to talk about it,” he muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Cassandra gave a disappointed sigh. “If you do change your mind, let me know,” she said as she stepped closer and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m always willing to listen. But if you don’t want to talk... Would a change of scenery help? A tour around the workshop might just be the thing to help you clear your head.”

Tails smiled nervously at her, eyes flicking towards the hand on his shoulder. His tails curled around his legs. 

“That does sound nice,” he said as he carefully took her hand off his shoulder. Getting out of here, for even a little while, sounded like a great idea. He could get an idea of the layout of the base, maybe even smuggle some things back into his cell when she wasn’t looking. 

“Good.” Her smile widened. As soon as he stood up, she put her arm around his shoulders, pulling him close before guiding him towards the door. “I know you’re going to like the workshop,” she said with excitement, not noticing the way Tails tensed up under her touch. “It’s been so long since I could just talk with somebody about my projects without having to explain every little detail.” 

As they stepped outside, an eerie silence greeted them. Only the hum of machinery and the faraway footsteps of Robians echoed down the hallways, and the lack of people, of life, made his fur stand on end.

“Would you... mind giving me a bit of personal space?” Tails said as he carefully tried to shrug Cassandra’s arm off his shoulder. But she had a firm grip on him. His tails flicked nervously. 

“Oh!” Cassandra quickly retracted her arm in embarrassment. “I apologize, I must’ve gotten a bit carried away, I…” she hesitated. ”I don’t often have people I can talk to like I can with you, Miles. Most… just don’t understand me.”

He followed her through the corridors, keeping his eyes and ears open for anything of interest. 

“You’ve known me a few days and talked with me three times,” Tails said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we really don’t know each other that well.”

“No, you’re right about that. But we are far more similar than you realize, Miles.”

“How?” He really didn’t see how he had anything in common with her. He was one of the Freedom Fighters. She was hiding out in a secret base with a Chief of Security who didn’t mind torture and using Robians. 

“I’m a very intelligent person, Miles.” She said with a casual shrug. “It might sound arrogant but it’s true. But I have accomplished more in the fields of mysticism and engineering in a decade than entire scores of scholars did in a century.” Her smile faded a bit, and bitterness crept into her voice.  “And that same intelligence separated me from the people around me. It’s hard to interact with other people when they can’t understand what you’re talking about, and people are vicious with things they don’t understand.” She gave him a sad smile. “You’re a lot like me in that regard.”

“People haven’t been vicious to me, Cassandra,” Tails said as he looked at her, his voice softening. “I don’t know what you’ve been through, and I don’t know how people treated you in the past, but not everybody is like that.” Tails smiled at her. “The people of New Mobotropolis aren’t like that.”

“Really now?” she gave him an unbelieving look. “Remind me, how do the  _ good _ people of New Mobotropolis treat your friend, Nicole?”

Tails’ mind froze in his tracks. Mouth open. “I... she...” he hung his head in shame as she looked at him with a gaze that expected an answer. “She was exiled by them. But Sally, Sonic, and the Freedom Fighters are doing everything they can to overrule the king’s decision on that.”

Cassandra’s face softened. “Miles, there might be a small group fighting for her freedom. But you and me both know the people are glad to have an AI like her out of the city. They’re scared of her; not of something she did, but of what she  _ is _ . Something not like them. Despite all she did, and is still doing, for them. They exiled her without a second thought. How would they react to somebody who isn’t vital for their city?”

“They’re scared of her after what happened during the invasion of the Iron Kingdom,” Tails said in a timid tone. “When Nicole got hacked, the Iron Queen forced her to imprison everybody. It sucks, and they really shouldn’t treat her badly because of it, because she wasn’t in control of her own actions. But they’re too afraid to see that.”

“I know they’re just afraid, Miles. That’s the problem. People let fear take over and let it do the thinking for them. They do it whenever they are faced with something they don’t understand. The Iron Kingdom invasion was just the catalyst that made it all spiral out of control. But they were afraid of what Nicole could do  _ before  _ that. Just like everybody was afraid of what I could do.” Cassandra gave him an empathic look. “Just like everybody is afraid of what  _ you  _ can do.” 

She came to a stop at a set of double doors. “But for now, let us leave those depressing thoughts behind us and enjoy the workshop.” She gestured at the door. 

Tails felt his hair stand on end again as Cassandra used her technomancy to command the doors to open. His jaw dropped at the sight of the workshop. Highly advanced equipment was carefully integrated in the room; even the Acorn Kingdom had trouble producing and maintaining some of the equipment he saw. There were pieces of equipment that he hadn’t even  _ seen  _ before. Even in Robotnik’s labs.    
  
“How did you get all of this?” Tails finally regained control over his jaw, looking around the workshop. 

“I’ve got connections all over the continent that can get me almost everything I need for my scientific research.” A smug smile crept on her face. “Or, if my needs aren’t capable of being met by the kingdoms, then I create my own equipment for the task.”    
  
Tails tensed up again as Cassandra put her hand on his shoulder and guided him to one part of the workshop. His enthusiasm died down a bit at the sight of Robians walking around the place. Their uncanny agility and care as they patrolled the area and hauled crates around made his skin crawl with unease. 

“Like this apparatus,” Cassandra spoke up and gestured to one of the machines. “One of my latest designs.”

For once in his life, Tails couldn’t even begin to guess at the machine's purpose. It’s design was completely alien to him. 

“What does it do?”

Cassandra didn’t even have time to respond.

“What is he doing here?!” a familiar voice thundered. Ears back and both of his tails curling around his feet, Tails turned in the direction of the voice and shrank back at the sight of the jackal walking towards the both of them, teeth bared and furs bristling on end 

“I’m giving our guest a tour of the workshop, Gregory.” Cassandra took a step back as Gregory looked at her.    
Cassandra’s ears went flat as she shrunk in on herself, glancing away from Gregory and towards Tails. With a deep breath she straightened up. Facing Gregory with a determined frown.

“You…” Gregory grunted in annoyance at Tails before turning to cassandra, teeth clenched and folding his arms behind his back. As tense as a pulled bowstring. “Cassandra,” He said, the barely restrained violence lurking underneath the surface like a shark. “security of the base is  _ my  _ responsibility.” The jackal’s composed facade cracked slightly. His voice becoming louder and louder as he continued  “A task you are making  _ much _ more difficult. It’s bad enough you put a stop to my interrogation, but now you’re giving him a tour of one of our most sensitive facilities? What are you even thinking?!” He shook his head as he rubbed the top of his muzzle, letting out a deep breath as he recollected his composure.  “If people knew what we were doing here...”  He shook his head and took took a step towards Tails, reaching towards him. “I’ll take him from here.”   


Tails backed away, eyes darting for anything that could help him in the situation.

“No.” 

Gregory stopped in his tracks, looking Cassandra in the eye.

“I... you... It’s time I put my foot down, Gregory,” Cassandra said as she stepped in between Tails and the jackal.. “You are Head of Security. But I’m still the head of the entire facility.” She took a deep breath. “I say Miles is a guest, not a prisoner, and he will be treated as such.” She glared at the jackal. “Is that clear?”

Gregory immediately pulled his arm back and broke eye contact with Cassandra. His tail flicked against his legs as he took a quick step back.     
  
He straightened up. “I’m afraid you’ll come to regret this choice of action sooner rather than later.” The jackal glanced at Tails. “Hero’s rarely see things from another point of view.” He bowed his head towards Cassandra. “I hope you’ll keep that in mind.” He turned on his heel and walked out of the workshop.    
  
Cassandra let out a breath and slumped over a bit. “That… that was nerve wracking.” She looked towards Tails. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.” he took a step closer to Cassandra, ears flicking upright. “Are you alright?”

Cassandra gave him a brilliant smile. “Yes, yes I’m alright. ”

“Are you sure? He didn’t look happy.” Tails glanced in the direction Gregory had walked of too. “Won’t he try to get back at you for it?”

“He wouldn’t. I know he’s…” her ears folded back as she searched for a word. “… _ strict _ . But his heart is in the right place.”

Tails doubted that the jackal even had a heart in the first place.

“But enough about that unpleasantness,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Why don’t we continue our tour? There is still so much to see.”   
  
Tails gave Cassandra an unsure look. “If you’re okay with it. So what’s this for?” He gestured towards the unfamiliar device. “I’ve never seen anything even remotely like it.”

“That’s very understandable.” Cassandra guided Tails a bit closer. “Not only is this custom-designed by myself,but it’s one of the tools I use in my study of the mystical; chaos energy, specifically.”

“You’ve studied chaos energy?” Tails’ ears perked up. Despite the fact he knew quite a few people who worked with chaos energy, they barely knew anything about it or how it worked. And what little they knew was more myth than actual, proven science. 

A sly smile crept on Cassandra’s face. “Of course, I still am. I can’t exactly divulge everything I know on the subject. Some of the information is too sensitive to risk falling in the wrong hands.” She gave him an apologetic look at that. “But I  _ did  _ give you access to some of my more foundational studies on the subject. They’re on the tablet..” 

Tails sighed deeply as he rubbed his forehead. Of course, she still didn’t trust him. 

“But I could let you in on some of my latest research, I suppose. You did contribute something vital to it.” She draped her arm across his shoulders and guided him towards another part of the workshop.   
  
Tails couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach, not only from the uncomfortable, unwanted contact, but also because he had a pretty good idea of what she was talking about. 

She was tinkering around with that shard of anarchy beryl. 

She guided him through a heavy security door, a heavily armed robian on either side of it, and as soon as they entered he saw the shard, hooked up into a tangle of machinery, giving constant readouts.   
  
“It’s quite the marvelous thing you’ve brought to my attention,” Cassandra said in an awed voice as she gestured towards it. “An energy so similar to chaos energy, but a complete reverse of it, at the same time. It’s  _ fascinating, _ and nearly mine to use.” 

Tails’ ears flicked back at that comment. Anarchy beryl gave off a massive amount of power, but left only destruction in its wake. 

“Do… do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Hmm?” Cassandra looked at him, confusion spreading on her face. “Why wouldn’t it be, Miles?”

“Because Anarchy Beryl is dangerous and mucking around with it isn’t a good idea,” Tails stated. “It’s not like the Chaos Emeralds. The only thing anarchy beryl does is break things in horrible ways.”

Cassandra sighed. “You are right about the fact the energy emitted by this crystal is volatile at best. But that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t investigate it and try to harness it safely. Where would society be if we all took one look at electricity and deemed it too dangerous for further study?” She rolled her eyes.

“This is different, though.”

“How so, Miles?” Cassandra asked with a tilt of the head. “Energy is energy. Even if one’s a physical phenomenon and the other a mystical one. With the proper knowledge, it can be contained and harnessed safely.Energy is neither good or evil Miles.  it’s how we use it that’s determines whether it’s good or evil.”

That sounded logical. But his stomach still twisted at the thought of that shard being poked at so it could be used as a powersource. 

“What about the Robians?” he accused .“There are  _ people  _ trapped inside those machines you’re using for your own ends. How can you rationalize that?”

“You’ve must have noticed by now that these Robians aren’t like Dr. Robotnick’s,” Cassandra said in a soft tone.

Tails nodded, looking at Cassandra with a wary look in his eye, wondering where this was going. “They’re too coordinated, too fast and quick on the uptake.”

She gave him a smile. “ _ Exactly,  _ Miles. Because they aren’t fighting against what I make them do. I’m incapable of reversing the effects of robotization and undoing the restraints that keep their minds shackled.” Her ears folded back and she gave a pitying look towards the two guards stationed at the door. “But with my technomancy, I’m very much capable of soothing the horrors that such an existence brings with it. Leaving them happy until a time comes when I have the resources to reverse the process.”

“But the Acorn Kingdom can reverse it already,” Tails insisted. “If you want to help them, why don’t you hand them over to the authorities?” Tails’ tail flicked as he gave the woman a stern look. “You don’t even have to break your secrecy for it. Just deactivate them and drop them close enough to the border for a patrol to find them.”

“And that’s very suspicious. Even if they didn’t see it as a potential attack, they would know that somebody is doing  _ something that involves Robians _ . Which would cause the kingdom's intelligence branch to start investigating. I barely have enough resources to keep myself afloat and hidden as is.” She sucked in a nervous breath of air. “People start looking for me  _ now  _ and I’ll be found for sure. Forcing me to abandon all I’ve built here and start anew. I cannot do that. This is all I have.” She gave Tails a desperate, helpless look. “You can understand that, can’t you?”

Tails averted his eyes. Nothing about it felt right. How would you even ease somebody's mind in that state? You were helpless in your own body as it moved against your own will, having to watch every horrible thing you did at dr.robotnik's command. What had she gone through to make her so desperate to keep herself a secret? Or was it the thing she was developing that she desperately wanted to keep out of sight. 

“I know it isn’t a perfect solution, Miles.” She gave his shoulder a light squeeze.  “But it’s the only one I have at the moment.” 

“How…” Tails finally collected his thoughts enough. “How do you even ease the horror of being a Robian? It’s terrifying.”

“It’s a complicated technomantic procedure,“ Cassandra started. “It’s hard to put into words what I do. Especially to a person who doesn’t know how technomancy works.” 

“Try me; if I’m as much of a genius as you say I am, then it should be possible for me to understand, shouldn’t it?” Tails gave her a determined look.

A look of uncertainty flashed over Cassandra’s face. But she quickly gave him a warm, eager smile. “Well, when you get a good grasp on the fundamentals of technomancy, it should be easy for you to grasp the intricacies of the method.” She leaned closer to him. “I could teach you, if you want. Think of it as another gesture of goodwill from me.” 

Tails leaned back slightly as he considered the offer. You didn’t need to understand exactly how a machine worked to know what function it did. So why did she insist he needed to be taught to understand it? It didn’t make sense.    
  
He forced himself to relax as he gave her a nod. He needed to get to the bottom of this, and if he could learn something along the way, then that wasn’t a bad deal, either.

“Excellent!” she said as she began to guide him out of the workshop.   
  
Tails tensed up as she pulled him way too close. Close enough that he could smell her, a whiff of expensive perfume unable to cover up the sharp smell of ozone. He tugged slightly, trying to put some distance between them, but her excited grip kept him firmly in place.

“I’ve been looking forward to this, actually!” Cassandra said without a pause, looking at him with a wide grin on her face, “I’ve never had the opportunity to teach somebody about my work; no one could keep up, so there wasn't any point.”   
  
Tails’ ears flicked back as Cassandra’s eyes roamed over him. The smile somehow eerily reminding him of the way Scourge had looked at Fiona. Like he was a prize instead of a person.   
  


* * *

Fiona took a deep breath to steady her nerves as she filled the syringe with anesthetic. This was it, no more covering her own ass. No more waiting and biding her time. After Alyona had ‘lost’ her keycard, she hadn’t let the thing out of her sight. Fiona was going to get Tails out of here and she was going to do it today. Because if this failed, she wouldn’t have another shot at it.    
  
She hid the syringe behind her back as she left the medbay behind her and walked into Alyona’s lab. The bear looked up from her work as she heard the hiss of the door, giving her an annoyed look. 

“Don’t you’ve got better things to do then disturb me during my research?” she snapped.   
  
Fiona plastered the most bored expression on her face she could muster. “Already got done with most of my stuff and would really appreciate if you gave me something else to do. “She gave a noncommittal shrug. “Cause I’m pretty sure Gregory would turn me into a rug if he caught me slacking off or something.” She leaned against a cabinet and gave a dismissive gesture, trying to look as natural as possible.

“You already sorted the entire inventory?” Alyona said as she stood up, towering over Fiona.

Fiona felt her heart drop into her stomach as Alyona’s towering physique sunk in. She knew the doctor was tall and as imposing as a brick house. She’d had to calculate her mass to get the dosage for the anesthetic right. But it was one thing to know how big Alyona was. It was another thing entirely to see Alyone towering over her, and knowing that she was going to have to take the grizzly down in a fight.

“Yes,” Fiona said, using every bit of restraint she had to keep her nervousness from seeping into her voice. 

The Grizzly snorted with disbelief. “If you’ve half-assed the job, then I’ll be the one who’s gonna make you into a throw rug. Because interrupting me during research time is not something to be done lightly.” 

“Feel free to check,” Fiona said as she clenched the syringe tight in her hand.

“I will.” Alyona walked towards the door, stopping a few steps away from Fiona, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “What are you holding behind your back?”

Fiona didn’t answer. Instead, she threw a punch aimed directly at Alyona’s stomach. Alyona had more than enough time to block the blow with her arm, which was exactly what Fiona wanted. She stabbed the syringe into Alyona’s arm and injected the drug. The grizzly flailed, and fiona let go of the syringe and dove away just in time to avoid being swiped by a paw the size of a dinner plate.    
The bear mobian rose up to her full height, wincing as she pulled the syringe out of her arm. She took a wobbly step towards Fiona, eyes narrowed.

“This is the last mistake you’ll make,” Alyona slurred out as she fell onto her knees. “Gregory doesn’t forgive betrayers.” Her eyes began to droop as the drug took full effect.

“Doesn’t matter if he doesn’t get his hands on me.” Fiona shot back. Staying a safe distance away from the grizzly. 

Alyona slumped to the ground with a weak chuckle. “Oh he’ll find out. He always does.” A shudder went through her massive body. “And I wouldn’t want to be you wh..” She didn’t manage to finish her sentence.   
  
Fiona calmly walked up to her. Standing over Alyona and nudging her paw with her foot.   
  
She stared down at her for a long moment and she couldn’t help but think about how easy it would be to end her right here and now.   
  
The world would be better off without a monster like her. A mad doctor who didn’t care who she had to hurt in order to figure out how the world worked. Fiona had looked through all the  files in the few days she’d been working under Alyona, and the contents of her research, the details of her experiments... it had made her feel sick, even  _ before _ Tails had bashed some sense into her hard head.   
  
Fiona glanced over the lab, noting the many things she could use to end Alyona right here and right now. There was a bit of justice in it. The mad doctor being killed by a chemical of her own design, or by the tools she used to claim the lives of so many others.   
  
She clenched her fists as she shook her head. She would be killing a defenseless person, and no matter how she would try to justify it, no matter how much Alyona deserved it. Tails would see it as cold-blooded murder. 

And Tails managed to get through her thick skull and got her to question her own view on the world. Maybe somebody would be able to do it with Alyona.

  
Grabbing a set of restraints, she quickly tied up Alyona and pocketed her keycard.   
It would only be a matter of time before security caught wind of this. So she couldn’t waste any more of it.

* * *

  
Fiona already knew the route to Tails’ cell and it didn’t take her long to make her way to it, even while dodging the patrols.    
  
She paused in front of the door, keycard hovering above the card reader as she took a deep breath. She was scared, downright terrified even, to face Tails again. But she couldn’t back down anymore, and she refused to leave Tails behind. She was done with that. 

She pushed the card against the reader and walked into the Tails’ cell.

Tail’s shot upright and scrambled to face her, scowling as soon as he saw her. 

“Didn’t think you would show your face again,” he spat out before turning his attention back to the dataslate on his desk. “Make it easier on the both of us and just get the hell out before anybody notices you’re in here.”    
  
Fiona winced at the venom in his voice. She probably deserved that one. “I… I found a way out,” she started, gritting her teeth at the pathetic tremor in her voice. She took a deep breath to steady herself. “If we’re fast, I can get us out before anybody even notices that both of us aren’t where we’re supposed to be.”

“A way out,” Tails said with a sigh, tiredly rubbing his face. “You really think I’m stupid, don’t you?” 

“What... no!” 

“Really? Because first you throw your lot in with these people as soon as you can,” Tails counted on his fingers has went down the list,“then you try and convince me to do the same to save your own stupid pride. And now you’re here telling me that you want to help me escape.” He gave her a disbelieving look, eyes narrowed in suspicion. His fur stood on end as he bared his teeth at her. “So what is it you’re trying to pull off now?” He made a sweeping gesture at her. “Trying to make it look like I’m trying to escape so Gregory gets another shot at interrogating me without Cassandra getting in the way? Or are you just toying with me again, like usual?!”   
  


Fiona took a step back from the snarling Tails, ears flat against her head. She let his fury wash over her, and instinctively curled her tail around her to hold it against her chest. Like a child might clutch a teddy bear.   
  
“Well, whatever it is you’re planning, I’m not falling for it this time. I’m done. Didn’t you get that from last time you snuck in here? So. Get. Out!” 

Some part of her really really wanted to tuck her tail in between her legs and get the hell out of here and escape before anybody, especially gregory, figured out what she had pulled. She had tried hadn’t she? She had put her own skin on the line to try and help him. She could’ve ran and left him. But no, she went back in. Went toe to toe with Alyona just to help him. And what did he do? He reacted with distrust and anger. Fiona’s fist clenched. Why shouldn’t she give him what he wanted and get out? Just escape without him? If he didn’t think she was worthy of even a sliver of trust. Then fuck him right?    
  
Fiona kicked that part of her back down. She  _ didn’t  _ deserve a sliver of trust. She’d been acting like an untrustworthy bitch for years, what else could she expect?   
  
She was going to get Tails out of this place before Alyona, Gregory or anybody else got their grubby hands on him again. Even if she had to  _ drag  _ him out. She wasn’t going to turn her back on Tails, not this time.    
  


She straightened up as she faced Tails. Heart hammering in her chest and her throat feeling tight. She took a deep breath. “I know you don’t believe me.“But I’m not here because I’m planning something. I’m here because you were right,” This was it, no turning back, no more running. 

Tails’ looked at her like she grew a second head. Fiona took the stunned silence as a cue to continue.

“I...  was a bitch. I didn’t care who I had to hurt, as long as I got out ahead. Cause I figured that everybody else was just waiting for the right moment to do the same to me. But you forced me to realize that I was wrong.”

Tails gave her a hesitant look, before narrowing his eyes in suspicion again. “And why should I believe anything  _ you  _ say? I can’t even remember the last time you  _ didn’t  _ break your word.”

“I know that my word means nothing to you, Tails, and I can’t blame you after all the things I did.” She straightened up and looked Tails right in the eye.” But I don’t care what you think. I’m done with saving my own tail at the costs of others. I’m not leaving you behind this time. No matter what it takes.” 

  
“No matter what it takes.” Tails parroted her with a scoff. “You willing to back that up? Or are those just empty words, like usual?”

“Just tell me what you want me to do.”She said desperately. “Tell me, and I’ll do it.”    
  
Tails stared at her. “What? Just like that? No offers? No bribes?”    
  
Fiona huffed. “No. You’ll just think my suggestions are another way to trick you.”

Fiona winced as she saw Tails’ fur bristle at that. Wrong thing to say.

“And I wouldn’t blame you for that,” she added quickly. “I’ve been doing that for years. But not now. How can I trick you when I let you set the terms?”   
  
“You’ll find a way,” Tails muttered, but there wasn’t any venom in his voice. With a grunt, he turned away from her and began pacing.

Fiona eased the grip on her tail as she watched him think. He hadn’t thrown her out yet, which was a good sign. He wasn’t yelling at her, either, and he actually looked like he was considering it. 

“I’m going to regret this,” Tails muttered as he turned back to Fiona.. “But fine, I’ll give you a chance. Your  _ last _ one.” 

Fiona let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. . She wasn’t going to fuck this one up. She couldn't keep the relieved smile off her face.

“And to be clear, if I had  _ any  _ other option, I wouldn’t even consider it,” Tails snapped as he walked back to his desk. 

Fiona winced a bit at that. “So, what do you want me to do?” 

  
“I want you to get me to the Robian rest cradles.” 

Fiona let out a whine at that sentence. Of course, of all the things Tails wanted done, it had to be getting him to one of the most guarded places in the entire complex. Even with the skeleton crew, the entrance to that place was always guarded by heavily-armed Robians.   
  
Tails stiffened. “Already chickening out? I thought you said you would do anything,” he snapped.

Fiona wanted to demand an explanation. She wanted to demand to know why he wanted to go there. But she knew that would do nothing to gain his trust. So she just focused on the more pressing question.   
  


“Do you have a plan to get past the Robian guards, or how to get past the other security measures in that place?” Fiona met Tails’ gaze. “I’m not leading the both of us right into Gregory’s hands. He’ll kill us both.” She shuddered. “If we’re lucky.”

“Of course I do.” He pulled out a few contraptions from a hiding place of the desk, holding them up to the light. Hastily cobbled together things from whatever useable electronics Tails had managed to get his hands on.   “Flip the switch and put it on a Robian and it’ll stun them for as long as it’s on them. You can leave the security to me.” His tails flicked and he held them out for her. “Now will you do it, or are you going to go back on your word, as always?”

“I’ll do it,” Fiona said without hesitation. She snatched the little discs from his palm, a smile tugging at the edge of her lips as she saw Tails’ jaw drop for just a moment. “But after you’ve done whatever you wanted to do in that place, you’ll let me help you escape, alright?”

Tails composed himself and pushed past her. “Just get me to the cradle,” he snapped.   
  
Fiona’s shoulders sagged and she let out a sigh.   
  


“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to lead me to the cradles?” Tails snapped.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she responded as she followed Tails out of his cell.

* * *

  
Fiona peeked around the corner, scowling at the two armed Robian guards flanking the door to the cradles. Expected, but still a big problem. She looked at Tails. “There are two of them, you ready?”

Tails nodded and flipped the switch on his device; the electronic parts sparked and it emitted a low hum. “I’ll take the right one.”   
  


“Gotcha.” She primed one of her own contraptions and waited a few moments to make Tails was ready before she dashed around the corner.   
  
Both of the Robians immediately reacted, training their guns on them. But they were to late. Fiona slammed into the Robian, shoving  it up against the wall with a loud clunk and pushing it’s gun away from her.    
  
Fiona gritted her teeth as the Robian began to struggle. It was far stronger due to its enhancements, , but she only needed a brief moment. She slammed the contraption against the Robian’s chest. It screeched as it began to thrash uncontrollably. Fiona ducked out of the way of it’s flailing limbs, but a stray blow caught her on the shoulder before it went limp and slumped over like a marionette that had its strings cut.   
  
She ignored her own pain and looked at Tails,letting out a slight sigh of relief as she saw the other Robian slumped against the wall. Tails was already moving towards the door.   
  


Fiona picked up one of the fallen Robian’s electro guns. “After you’ve opened the door, think you can disable the security on this gun?”   
  
“Why? So you can shoot me in the back?” Tails said without even skipping a beat as he popped open the magnetic door lock.   
  
“No... I... nevermind.” She dropped the gun and sucked in a breath through her teeth as her tail curled around her feet. It was her own fault for throwing away the last dregs of trust Tails had in her.    
  
Fiona stood back and let Tails work as she kept her eyes and ears peeled for another patrol, or anything else coming down the hall.

After a few moments, Tails let out a satisfied hum and she heard the door slide open. She quickly followed Tails inside and her mouth fell open in shock at the size of the cradle facility. Recharging stations were put together in rows barely big enough for the Robian-sized lifts to move through, and the stations were stacked up to the roof of the massive room... not, it couldn’t be called a room. It was the size of an aircraft hanger, if not bigger, and almost every single cradle was occupied.   
  
“Shit…” Fiona whispered “Why isn’t she stationing guards in every single corridor if she’s got this many Robians?” How many towns worth of mobians were in here? How many people were trapped in those Robian shells. Unable to do anything but wait until Cassandra decided to power them up and use them for her own ends? She felt ill just thinking about it.

“Probably energy issues. Robians require a fair bit of energy to maintain even minimal function. In between this and the rest of the equipment, the base has to be powered. There probably isn’t enough power to go around.” Tails’ voice was distracted as he walked up to one of the Robians, reaching up to put his hand on its shoulder. “Lets see if I can pull this off,” he muttered under his breath as he closed his eyes.A faint green glow pulsing from his hand into the robian, it jerked in its cradle and it’s eyes flickered to life.   
  
Fiona had barely seen Cassandra, but she’d seen her flaunt her powers once or twice.   
  
“Tails, did you learn that from her?” Her ears and tail twitched when Tails ignored her. He stood as still as the lifeless Robians around them. “Tails?” She reached out for him.   
  
“No!” Tails cried out.He pulled his hand away as if the Robian had shocked him.    
  
Fiona readied herself for an attack, but the Robian went limp in its cradle.   
  
 “She hasn’t, she didn’t.” He ran over over to the next one and repeated the process. His eyes went wide.   
  
“Tails.” 

Tails ignored her as he pulled back, shaking his head as he began moving towards the next one in line.   
  
“TAILS!” Fiona yelled as she grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around to face her. Ignoring the pain shooting through her shoulder. “What is going on?” There were tears in his eyes and when she saw them it hit her like a kick to the stomach. He didn’t struggle in her grip. He didn’t snarl at her to let him go or throw insults to remind her of her betrayal. He just stared at her, his eyes wide, empty and utterly devastated.

“Cassandra... she…”  His voice broke. “She killed them all.”

“What? What do you mean, killed them all?” A cold feeling gripped her stomach.   
  
“She erased the Mobian minds inside them. That’s why they react so fast, there is nothing to resist the orders anymore.”    
  
Fiona let go of Tails in shock. She looked around the facility with a growing sense of dread. The scores and scores of Robians lining the walls felt increasingly ominous as the realization sunk in.   
  
This wasn’t a storage facility. This was a tomb.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6   
  


Tails helplessly gazed up at the thousands and thousands of wiped Robians. In the face of so much needless death, his anger at Fiona, and the situation she had put them in, seemed to fade away.

No, this wasn’t death. This was murder. And what had he been doing about it? Nothing. He roughly wiped away his tears, his fists clenching and teeth gritting, fury coiling around his heart like a burning snake.   
  
He had let himself be led around by the nose, buying into Cassandra’s lies instead of digging deeper to get the complete picture.

So what if he had been suspicious of her? So what if he didn’t completely buy everything she had been saying? If Fiona, of all people, hadn’t dropped by, he would still be sitting on his thumbs, waiting for Cassandra to do something suspicious. How many Robians had she wiped with her technomancy while he did  _ nothing _ ? How much more death would she have caused if Fiona hadn’t come around? 

The idea made him sick.   
  
“I’m gonna  _ kill  _ her,” he snarled. “I’m gonna  _ kill  _ that lying, conniving, mass-murdering…” Tails sputtered as he failed to find the words. He turned towards the door.

“No, you’re not.” Fiona’s hand grabbed him by the shoulder.   
  
He turned on her with an angry snarl. “Really?” He gestured towards the lifeless Robians. “Look around you! Every single one of these people, dead. And their bodies are being kept around to serve her! She’s a monster.” He tried to shrug her hand off, but she held fast. 

“She is,” Fiona said in a soft determined tone. “But you shouldn’t kill her, Tails.”    
  
“Who do you think you are? What makes you think you can tell me what to do?” Tails ground out in between gritted teeth, slapping her hand of his shoulder. “Like you can act all high and mighty!” He ignored Fiona’s wince at those words. “Doing one good thing doesn’t wipe your slate clean of all the shit you’ve pulled.” He felt tears stinging in his eyes and his throat felt tight. “You… you can’t just expect me to  _ forget  _ and act like you’ve never done all that shit!” he hoarsely spat out. “So why the hell should I listen to you? A monster like her deserves to die!”   
  


"That doesn't mean you should kill her," Fiona said quietly. Tails snapped his head around and found her staring at the floor. "When you take someone's life... it changes you. It's a burden that you shoulder for the rest of your life. You’re too good of a person to just ... _get over_ something like that.” She awkwardly rubbed her arms, unable to look him in the eye.

  
“And I know I’m not gonna be able to wipe the slate clean. I’m gonna have to live with the consequences of my mistakes for the rest of my life.” She hesitated. “I... I don’t want you to go through that.”

Tail’s teeth ground together as he rubbed his hand across the top of his head, hackles raised. As much as he wanted to deny it, Fiona was right; he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for killing Cassandra, if he managed to go through with it at all. His eyes burned and his throat felt like it was being squeezed shut; every breath was a struggle. He felt the tears drip over his cheeks, making his fur all soggy, but he didn’t even bother hiding them.

“I was so damned stupid,” he choked out, more to himself than to Fiona. “I knew something was up, but I was too busy suspecting Gregory that I didn’t even notice how much she was leading me by the nose. I should’ve done something the moment I knew she had the anarchy beryl shard.”   
  
“That’s bullshit.” Fiona’s voice pulled him out of his rant and he looked back up at her. Her lips pulled back in a snarl and anger flashed in her eyes. 

“What could you have done?” she snapped. “You didn’t know the base, you didn’t know the patrols, and you didn't know what she was planning.”

“I could’ve at least tried  _ something!”  _ Tails shot back.   
  
“Of course.” Fiona rolled her eyes. “We both know you just sat on those nice comfortable cushions the entire time. Not planning to find out what was going on, or building things that would help you when you got the chance. And then, when you actually got the chance to escape, you instead dug deeper and found out one of the - probably numerous - fucked up things they were doing here.” She gestured around her. “You did a lot. And as soon as we’re out of here, you can call Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters, and Cassandra and her goons are gonna be behind bars for what they did.”

His thoughts were stopped in their tracks at Fiona’s words. She was right. He let out a weak chuckle at the thought.  _ Fiona  _ of all people was making him feel better. He would’ve thought he was dreaming if the rest of the situation wasn’t such a nightmare. He took a few deep shuddering breaths.

Tails wiped away his tears. “I… we can’t go. Not yet.” 

Fiona crossed her arms and took a step closer. “Why not? We’re on a time limit, here!”

“Don’t you think they’ll notice when I’m gone?” Tails started. “As soon as they know they’re discovered, they’re not gonna sit and wait for Sonic and the Freedom Fighters to come and beat them. They’re gonna run, and take the shard with them. I can’t let that happen.” He looked Fiona straight in the eyes. “Cassandra is close to figuring out how to tap into it. 

Fiona let out a sigh, shoulders sagging. “Okay, so we can’t let them have the shard. But do you have any idea how to get your hands on it and get away afterwards? I don’t even know where the shard is.”

“But I do,” Tails said as he crossed his arms. “Cassandra couldn’t help but show it to me and brag about it. It’s guarded by Robians, so I should be able to get to it.”   
  
“We,” Fiona interrupted, She put her hands on her hips as she gave him a cross glare.. “ _ We _ should be able to get to it. Or did you really think I’d let you go off alone?”    
  
“I want you to get my emergency beacons while I go for the shard.”    
  
“So you really want to split up?” Fiona looked at him with disbelief.    
  
“I don’t  _ want  _ to split up,” Tails said. He curled his hands into fists to hide their trembling, but his swishing tail and twitching muzzle betrayed his fear. He  _ really _ didn’t want to walk through the base by himself  “But you said it yourself: we don’t have much time. And I need  _ at least _ one of those beacons to call for Sonic and the Freedom Fighters as soon as we get out.” Tails crossed his arms. “They’re not going to let us go easily. When they notice we’re gone, they’re gonna tear this place apart looking for us.”   
  
Fiona’s sighed, her muzzle scrunching up in thought. “Can’t you think of a plan that doesn’t involve the two of us splitting up?”    
  
Tails shook his head. “I’ve got nothing else.”

“Fine… then we’ll need a rendezvous point. The corridor crossing marked B-C, we passed it on the way here, is fairly close to the exit. You remember where it is?”

Tails nodded slowly. “I remember We’ll meet there as soon as we can.” He started to turn around, only to be stopped by Fiona’s hand on his shoulder again.   
  


“Don’t go storming off before before I’m done! I haven’t even told you where the exit is yet.” She looked torn between amusement and annoyance. “We’re splitting up. What if I don’t make it to the meeting point and you have to escape on your own?”  
  
“I wouldn’t leave _anybody_ at the mercy of people who do things like...” he gestured to the Robians lining the walls, “ _this._ We’re wasting time, Fiona. I…” he paused, the words sticking in his throat. 

Did he really trust Fiona to show up? There still was that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that this could all be a trap. That this was some strange, convoluted plan that Fiona had thought up to help Cassandra and Gregory.    
  
But why would she have led him to the Robian rest cradles? Blowing all off Cassandra’s lies wide open? It just didn’t make sense for Fiona to be working with Cassandra or Gregory at this point. And if she was in it for herself, well, he’d take that risk if it meant getting that shard out of Cassandra’s hands.    
  


“I trust you to get the beacons.”   
  
Fiona perked up at his words, her eyes brightening, and Tails felt his ears heat up at the sight. His tails brushed against the floor, wagging once or twice before he could get them back under control. He cleared his throat awkwardly, scratching beneath his chin.   
  
“Don’t get caught,” he mumbled.

Fiona gave him a smile. “Same to you. I’ll see you soon.”    
  


* * *

Fiona pressed herself against the wall and the support pillar, making herself as tiny as possible and trying to ignore her heart pounding in her chest. She silently counted the loud, clanking footsteps as the Robian patrol passed her.   
  
As soon as the footsteps faded, she pushed away from the wall and hurried down the corridor. As she arrived to the storage room, she swiped Alyona’s keycard and pushed open the door.

Get in, get the beacons, and get out. 

Should be easy.   
  
She flicked the lights on and began walking between the shelves. She’d been here a few times to get supplies for the medbay, so she knew how they organized things in here. It didn’t take her very long to find the shelf where they stored the confiscated items of their prisoners. 

  
She pulled a small storage container off the shelf and pried open the lid. She couldn’t suppress a sob of relief when she saw the beacons blinking calmly at the top of the pile. She let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head, and pocketed them with a grin. She reached for her old clothes in the box, hesitating as memories of Scourge shot through her mind. She forcefully slammed the storage container shut and roughly shoved it back onto the shelf.    
  
  
And then the door behind her slammed shut with with a pneumatic hiss. A bolt of fear shot down her spine, ans she jumped, bumping against the storage container, causing it to fall to the floor with a loud crash. The contents of the box spilled out across the tiles.

“Once a traitor, always a traitor, isn’t that right, little fox? Pity the boy hasn’t figured that out yet.”     
  
Fiona shivered at the cold, familiar voice. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and turned. 

“I’d rather be a traitor than help a mass-murdering lunatic, Gregory.” She clenched her fists to stop them from shaking, but she couldn’t keep her voice from wavering.

Gregory bared his teeth at her and he took a step forward. “I think you’d rather be a traitor than anything else,” the jackal hissed, his narrow eyes watching her every move. “Put whatever you stole back, and I promise I’ll make it quick and painless.” 

Fiona glared at him, tail flicking as she calculated the odds of her chances. She didn’t want to test how well-founded Alyona’s fear of this man was. He was bigger, stronger, and faster than her. 

But she had the element of surprise. 

She dashed forward, aiming a punch at his side and trying to shove herself past him. 

Gregory grinned, showing off a set of sharp teeth, ears perking up. His eyes widened in excitement as he slapped her arm away.    
  
Fiona redoubled her assault, twisting around to drive her elbow into Gregory’s face. Her eyes widened in surprise as Gregory caught her arm. Fiona yelped in pain as he squeezed down. She struggled wildly in his vice-like grip.   
  
If she couldn’t break his hold, then she would make him let her go in another way. She grit her teeth and slammed her other fist into his stomach. It felt like punching a brick wall, and she yelped in pain.   
  
But she couldn’t give up, Tails was relying on her. If she died here, then he wouldn’t have a way out. The idea of Tails getting to their meeting point and finding Fiona nowhere in sight made her stomach twist. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind Gregory and Cassandra would make it seem like she had abandoned him again. She snarled as she hurled herself at Gregory, desperation fueling her lunge.    
  
She wasn’t going to let that happen ever again.   
  
Fiona grabbed him by the collar, using it as leverage to slam her knee in his crotch as hard as she could. Gregory grunted in pain and his grip on her slackened just enough for her to slip out of his grasp.    
  
Gregory took a few deep breaths and the glare he gave her made her stomach turn. There was not a shred of mercy in his eyes. He straightened, shaking himself off as if she hadn’t just kicked him straight in the balls. 

“Gotta do better than  _ that _ ,”  he snarled before he leapt forward, bearing down on her again.    
  
Fiona barely managed to bring up her arms in time to block the jackal’s punch. The force of the impact slammed her arms against her muzzle, and pain blasted through her skull. 

Gregory pushed the assault, lashing out at her stomach. Fiona lowered her arms to block the incoming blow and braced herself for impact. But it didn’t come, eyes widened in realization as she tried to get her guard back up. But she was to late, his feint had worked. He easily knocked her shoddy guard aside and grabbed her by the hair. She clutched at his arm, trying to wrench it off, squirming in his grip. Her eyes went wide and her ears flattened against her head as she saw the cruel smile that played on Gregory’s lips.    
  
He slammed her face-first against the metal shelves. Fiona let out a muffled scream of pain. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth as she felt a tooth crack, gagging as the shattered pieces bounced against the back of her throat. She braced against the metal shelf and kicked blindly at Gregory. Her feet scraped against his shins and sides without much effect.   
  
She yelped as Gregory yanked her away from the shelves by her hair and kicked her legs out from underneath her, sending her sprawling to the ground. She tried to get back on her feet, but a harsh kick against her ribs sent her back down. She writhed on the ground, mouth gaping and lungs burning at the lack of oxygen. Panic shooting through her head as she couldn’t breathe.

  
“You really should choose your battles better.” Gregory said in a satisfied tone.   
  


She grit her teeth, blind gasping wouldn’t help, she knew this, she’d been in this situation before. She shuddered as she carefully drew breath. A bolt of pain shot through her ribs with every breath she took. She tried to stifle her sobs and push through the pain. Every part of her brain was screaming that she needed to get the hell away from him. Her vision was blurry from the tears and all she wanted to do was stay curled up in a ball. 

But Tails was counting on her. She couldn’t let Gregory win. 

Gregory grabbed her by the scruff, rolling her over so she was on her back. Fiona struggled weakly in his grip.    
  
“Ge…” Her words were cut of as he rammed his elbow against her throat. She desperately tried to breathe, grabbing his arm, trying to get it off her. Her mind was racing and her free hand blindly reaching around for something,  _ anything _ . 

Her hand closed around something small and cylindrical. Somehow, through the panic and the pain, her brain managed to recall the memory of searing, blinding light. 

Tails’ flashlight. spark of hope flickered through her mind.

  
She fumbled with it, trying to find the dial, and turned the setting up as high as it would go.    
  
She pointed the flashlight at Gregory, closed her eyes and flipped the switch.   
  
Gregory howled in pain. Fiona could see the harsh light through her eyelids. 

The pressure on her neck vanished and she sucked in a deep, gasping breath. In all her life, nothing had ever tasted as good as that stale, damp cavern air.   
  
Adrenaline rushed through her body. She shoved Gregory off her, scrambled to her feet as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her muscles and the burning in her lungs, and bolted towards the door, fishing Alyona’s keycard out of her pocket.    
  
She slammed the keycard against the door, and didn’t wait until the door was fully open to slip through. Her blood went cold as she glanced behind her. Gregory was already closing in fast. She knew she couldn’t outrun him forever. Not with the beating she’d just taken. 

She pulled out one of Tails’ contraptions and flipped it’s switch. 

“I hope this thing works on more than just Robians,” she wheezed as she slammed the contraption against the cardreader.   
  
Fiona smiled as the cardreader began to spark, and with a grinding noise the door slammed shut. 

That would keep him of her back. For now, at least.    
  
With the adrenaline slowly draining away, just how badly she had been shoved through the wringer by Gregory finally sunk in. Slumping against the wall, she cradled her aching ribs and spat out a mouthful of blood, wincing as she heard shards of her tooth hit the metal floor with a faint  _ pinging _ sound. She wasn’t looking forward to living with that.   
  
The door groaned as something slammed into it, and Fiona jolted upright. She let out a sigh of relief as the heavy metal held fast.    
  
“Thank god.” Given her luck, she had half-expected him to smash through the door like a living wrecking-ball. 

She reached for the beacons in her pocket, letting out a relieved sigh as her hand curled around one of them; They were still intact. 

She pushed herself off the wall and hobbled towards the meeting point. 

“Hope you’ve had an easier time then I did, Tails.”

* * *

Tails peeked into the workshop; it was deserted except for the two Robians standing guard by the door that led to Cassandra’s private laboratory, where the shard of Anarchy Berel was held. 

He reached for his tools. If he got close enough, he could easily disable the Robians. The problem was getting close enough. 

He shuddered as he remembered the voltage those guns could deal out. Once was enough. 

He scanned the workshop.     
  
With crates and workspaces littering the workshop, there was enough cover for him to get close without the Robians having a clear shot, and with a bit of luck, he could probably get close enough without them noticing.   
  
But, however he was going to take them down, he had to do it quick. He had no doubt in his mind that Cassandra or Gregory was going to get alerted when the Robians went down.   
  
He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to steady his nerves. 

_ Now or never.  _

As soon as he was through the door, the Robians reacted, yelling at him to halt in their screeching voices as they raised their weapons, electricity crackling over the barrels. 

So much for a stealthy approach. Tails dove behind a crate, bolts of energy slamming harmlessly against the metal crate. 

A set of heavy, clanking footsteps began to close in.    
  
Tails poked his head from out behind his cover as the guns were recharging. His ears flattened against his head as he watched one of the Robians steadily advancing towards him. 

Tails dove back behind his cover as another volley of energy bolts cut through the air. There was a rhythm to it. Shoot, recharge, shoot, recharge. Neither of the Robians was programmed to cover the other, or keep a stream of fire going to keep him pinned.    
  
He could use that.

  
He pulled out one of his jammers and flicked the switch, anxiously waiting for the next volley.   
  
His hair stood on end from the static electricity as the bolts of electricity smashed into his cover and he jumped out from behind the crate, dashing towards the nearest Robian.   
  
“Halt!” it screeched as it reached for him.   
  
They might have been faster and quicker to react than a standard Robian, but their programming was unaware of the device’s purpose and the danger it posed.   
  
With a loud, metallic clang, Tails slammed it against the Robian’s chest. The device activated with a loud whine, and the Robian spasmed as the device scrambled its system. The sharp crackle of the second Robian’s gun recharging split through the air.   
  
Tails ducked underneath the disabled Robian’s flailing arms and jumped behind a workstation, wincing as he slid on the floor and hit the workstation. 

One down. Now to get past the other one before reinforcements showed up. 

He grabbed his final device and flipped its switch as he scrambled back to his feet, hunching behind the workstation.   
  
He could hear the Robian’s heavy footsteps getting closer. He tensed up, ready to pounce.   
  
As soon as the Robian was close enough, he leapt from behind his cover and pounced. Pushing the Robian’s gun away from him, the discharge hitting the ground, Tails slammed the device against the Robian’s chest. The Robian twitched as it sank to the ground.    
  
Tails didn’t give the fallen Robian another glance as he hurried over towards the door and popped open the keycard reader; it only took him a quick rewire to force the door open, and he stepped inside.   
  
Tails couldn’t help but sigh in relief when he saw the shard, connected to the research equipment by a tangle of wires. It wasn’t until his fingers were just millimeters away that he could feel the sheer  _ wrongness  _ emanating from the gem. He hesitated, his mouth going dry.. The idea of touching it making his stomach clench.    
  
He grit his teeth. This was stupid; he had never reacted to anarchy beryl like this, before. The jagged purple facets shone in the artificial light, mocking him.    
  
Tails shook the thought out of his mind; it was a  _ shard _ , a thing. It couldn’t mock him. He yanked the shard off the wires. The gem felt uncomfortably warm in his palm, the twisted power pulsating underneath it’s smooth, crystal surface, almost begging him to use it.   
  
Now he just had to meet up with Fiona before the reinforcements arrived.   
  
He could hear the workshop door open, the sound of heavy footfalls echoing as they quickly got closer.   
  
He slumped, his tails curling around his legs and his ears going flat. He just had to jinx it.   
  


He didn’t have time to react before a dozen Robians charged into the room, leveling their guns at him. The ominous crackle of the charging weapons sounded like a thunderstorm.   
  
“Miles?” Cassandra’s confused voice rang out, and the ranks of Robians parted as she approached. The confusion was replaced with a coy smile. “Well, I should’ve known better than to think my security could keep you in for too long. Still, it would be best for you to put the shard back and follow me back to your room. Gregory would have a fit if he knew of this, and who knows what he would do?”

  
The friendly and familiar way she was acting made Tails’ blood boil. She had murdered enough people to fill that entire room. And she was acting as if nothing was wrong. 

Well, screw that. He was done playing along with her.    
  


“I know Gregory isn’t the greatest evil in this base,” Tails snapped as his eyes flitted around the room. Looking for something, anything, that could get him out of this mess. “I found out how you placate the Robians.” He felt the sharp edges of the shard bite into his flesh as his hands squeezed into fists. He didn’t give Cassandra a chance to respond. “You wiped their memories clean. You  _ killed  _ them.”    
  
For a few moments only the crackle of electricity was heard. Cassandra’s mouth opened and closed a few times. And Tails couldn’t help but feel a smidge of satisfaction at seeing her completely at a loss for words.   
  
Cassandra’s tail twitched as she stepped forward. A tense smile curled her lips. “I was afraid you would react like this, Miles. I was going to tell you when you were in the right state of mind to hear it.”

“Right state of mind...?” Tails sputtered out. “What the hell is  _ that  _ supposed to mean?”   
  
“Sally, Sonic, the freedom fighters. They’ve been stuffing your head with lies and preventing you from being who you truly could be... what you  _ deserve  _ to be,” she said in a slow and even tone.

“And what,” Tails snarled, taking a step towards her, “do you mean by that?” He felt the power of the shard pulse in his hands, calling to him.

“They’ve convinced you that they and the rest of their ilk are equal to you. To us.” Her voice rose as she straightened herself up. “We are geniuses; our intellect is vastly superior to theirs. The rightful order is that we stand above our lessers, using them to achieve our wishes and wants.” 

  
Tails shuddered at the words. The casual way she dismissed nearly everybody as lesser with such certainty in her voice.   
  


“One wouldn’t let a child rule an adult. Compared to us, they might as well be children. It’s in their own best interest to follow our rule.“ She reached out towards him with a warm smile on her face. 

No hint of doubt, no twitch of her face or a twinge of guilt for what she just said. She truly believed what she was saying. “You’re insane.”    
  
Cassandra frowned and shook her head in disappointment, retracting her hand. “They really have gotten their claws in you deeply.” She gave him a sad smile. “Don’t worry, Miles. I’ll help you get through it.” She reached out with her hand. “Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be Miles, please.”

Tails dove for cover. His fur tingled as he felt Cassandra send a technomantic command to her goons.   
  
The Robians raised their rifles. But Tails was already moving, vaulting over some lab equipment. Energy bolts screeched through the air, impacting against his cover. The Robians marched closer as the volley of energy bolts forced Tails to keep his head down.

  
“You can’t win this, Miles. Please be reasonable and surrender. We don’t have to do this.”    


Tails tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach has he wracked his brain for  _ anything  _ to get him out of his mess. There wasn’t enough cover between him and the exit, not to withstand the volume of fire.

  
He winced as a stray bolt hit something in the equipment he was hiding behind, showering him with sparks. He ignored Cassandra’s demands for surrender, trying desperately to think of something.   
  
But he came up with nothing; there was no time to get his hands on some of the machinery and jury-rig something, and he was too far away from the Robians to use the bits of technomancy he knew on them.   
  
Unless...   
  
He ran his fingers over the sharp shard, the energy angrily pulsing inside it’s crystal prison. 

His stomach clenched at the idea. It twisted people. Scourge always was a bad guy, but whenever he called upon the power of the shard, he was more beast than man.   
  
But what choice did Tails have?    
  


He gripped the shard and let the power flow, whimpering as the energy shot up his arm and into every fiber of his being like he was gripping an electric wire. He drew in sharp shallow breaths as the energy spread through him. His fur darkened to a dull, cobalt blue. The rage and anger he’d been feeling ever since he found out about Cassandra’s deception began to grow, clawing at his mind, pushing on the inside of his skull.   
  


He needed to do  _ something,  _ anything to get it all out.    
  
He felt a grin crawl on his face as his hand closed around the machinery he had been hiding behind, the metal deforming under his grip as he tore it off the ground, leapt to his feet, and threw it at the group. 

 

The heavy machinery flew through the air, bowling over a handful of Robians. He’d been aiming for Cassandra, but one of her goons pulled her out of the way an instant before the metal crumpled against the opposite wall, right where she’d been standing.   
  
He could feel his heart pounding in his ears, his teeth bared in a feral grin as the hatred and rage felt like it was slowly boiling him from within.  

Wasn’t it  _ lucky,  _ wasn’t it so  _ perfect _ and  _ grand _ , that he’d found something to work out his anger out on?    
  


* * *

Tails was late.

Fiona wrung her hands as she glanced down the hallways, ears perked for any sound of movement. Thoughts of why Tails could be delayed shot through her head. A simple delay, capture… betrayal. 

She shoved that thought out of her mind. Tails wouldn’t betray her to Cassandra and her ilk, not after what they’d found in the Robian lab.    
  
She resisted the urge to go and look for him. She had no clue where to start, and what if he came back while she was out looking?

The crunch of crumpling metal echoed through the base and Fiona straightened, wincing as her aching body protested at the sudden movement. 

“Tails?” She grit her teeth against the pain as she started running towards it. There was no doubt in her mind that Tails had something to do with that. If there was one thing Tails managed to pick up from Sonic, it was that he always managed to be in the midst of trouble.

* * *

  
  
  
Tails growled in frustration as the taste of ozone lingered in his mouth and the hum of chaos energy hung thick in the air. The energy of the Anarchy Beryl rushed through his veins, making his fists tremble. His heartbeat pounded in his skull, like a jackhammer against his brain, stoking his rage to burn brighter and hotter with each hit. The feel of metal crumpling beneath his fists like they were made out of cardboard.    
  
It felt  _ great _ .   
  


Green tendrils of energy sparked towards the fallen Robians. Broken bits and pieces, cracked gears and bent springs pulled themselves back together before his eyes, and the reborn Robians got back on their feet.    
  
But no matter how many times he turned those tin cans into scrap, they just kept coming back.    
  
One of the Robians aimed it’s rifle at him. Tails swatted it away. With a snarl, he smashed his fist into the Robian’s chest, metal shrieking as he wrenched the creature’s torso apart. 

He eyed the Robians forming a wall between him and Cassandra with distaste. The mangled robotic corpse hung  still and cold in his grip.    
  
Cassandra was the head of this snake. The Robians  _ didn’t matter _ , her other henchmen  _ didn’t matter _ . If he could remove Cassandra, then all of this madness would stop and she would never be able to kill another person. 

The desire to destroy her, to end this, it burned like hunger in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to watch the life bleed out of her, the light fade from her eyes.

And yet…

There was something else, something quiet and calm, a voice that begged him to stop this. To just get the hell out of here.   
  


From somewhere deep inside him, that voice cried out, begging him to stop, to run, to stick to the plan.   
  
But why should he? He was _ winning _ .   
  
As soon as Cassandra was gone and her technomancy fell away, it would all end. The Robians would go down permanently. It was just a matter of time. 

He threw the mangled Robian at Cassandra’s remaining guard, smashing a few other Robians to bits. The others quickly closed ranks to shield their master.   
  
“The ease with which you wield this power, it’s as if you were born to do it, ” Cassandra said with a genuine smile on her face. “Despite it being unnatural to this dimension, don’t you see how much talent and potential you have Tails? Think of what you could do under my guidance. We could transform this broken world into a paradise. ”

Another spark of unnatural green light illuminated the room as the fallen soldiers clawed their way back to their feet. Grasping at him.    
  
Tails snarled as he watched his enemies stand once more to face him. Blind fury crashed over him, and an instant later, he charged, using his tails to propel himself forward.

Cassandra’s bodyguards closed in on him.   
  
Tails didn’t stop, crashing into the mob of Robians and crushing the steel shells with pure brute force. He was beyond the point of strategy or intelligence as he clawed his way through them, his glare fixed on Cassandra.   
  


The remaining Robians swarmed him, ignoring their weapons and fighting tactics as they clamped their hands and teeth onto him. At first, it didn't stop him, but as more of the lifeless corpses sprang into motion, grabbing on and refusing to let go, Tails began to slow. He ignored his own body screaming in protest as the energy coursed through it.   
  
“Stop hiding behind these tin cans,” Tails snarled. panting heavily as the rush slowly began to die down. “Face me, you coward.” 

Cassandra said nothing. She just waited and watched, with a smile on her face and madness in her eyes.

His muscles protested as he struggled against the mass of metal bodies. His breath hitched as the raging energy from the shard began to drain out of him. It left nothing but bruised and screaming muscles behind.  

The Robians shoved him to his knees, pinning him down   
  
He struggled, but his limbs were encased in lead, his head pounding, pain like bolts of white-hot lightning shooting through him with each movement, no matter how slight. He had to force himself to look up as he heard soft footsteps coming closer. All he could do was give her a defiant glare.    
  
Cassandra made a simple gesture and the Robians pulled him to his feet.    
  
His eyes widened and he felt bile in the back of his throat as she gently stroked his cheek. As soon as her fingers touched his skin he could feel the tendrils of chaos energy spreading out from her, towards all the Robians. He shuddered as he sensed the path of that energy, how it it coursed through their battered shells and kept them upright.   
  
“I know this all looks bad now, Miles. But trust me, I’ll make you see how wrong the freedom fighters were, how they stunted your potential.” 

A sinking feeling formed in the pit of his stomach as she leaned closer, her eyes glinting green. She kept gently stroking his cheek. 

“I can teach you so much, if you just let me.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I promise it will be very enjoyable.”    
  
Tails squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered as he felt the heat of her breath on his cheek. His body recoiled on instinct, struggling desperately to back away.   
  
“Just let it happen, Miles….”   
  
“Get away from him, you creep!”    
  
Tails’ eyes snapped open. 

“Fiona?” He barely managed to utter the word, it was barely more than a whisper..   
  
Cassandra reacted as if she’d been slapped Tails winced as her fist clenched his cheek, lips curling back as she bared her teeth at Fiona.   
  
“You!” Cassandra snarled. “You’re the cause of all this.”

Fiona growled in response, fur bristling as she stomped towards Cassandra, fists clenched and tail flicking angrily. Tails could see the signs of exhaustion, the sight limp in her step, the way her shoulders sagged. But despite her weariness, she still stood tall, anger burning bright and hot in her eyes.   
  
Tails felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards, and then he winced, because even smiling hurt.

He met Fiona’s gaze, and saw her falter. Saw the way her shoulders tensed. Whatever she saw in him, it was something that scared her. 

“You came,” he rasped. Cassandra glanced between them, her eyes narrowing, and Tails’ ears went flat against his head as cold dread curled down his spine.   
  
Fiona had come for him, running straight into a pissed Cassandra with a whole host of Robians at her command.    
  
If Tails didn’t do something, Fiona was going to die.   
  
He weakly struggled in the Robian’s grip, wracking his mind for something, anything to get Fiona out of this mess. 

No matter how much he tried, the shard was unresponsive. The chaotic, unnatural energy continued to leach out of him with every passing second, taking the last vestiges of his strength with him. He slumped over.

  
The Robians kept him upright as his legs failed and he slumped over. He drew in ragged breaths as his vision began to fade.     
  
“Bring me her head!” Cassandra roared.   
  
Panic sunk its sharp claws into his heart and fear forced his battered, bruised and despondent body to move. He reached up, feebly grabbing the hand on his cheek. 

“No!”   
  
Cassandra recoiled from his touch as if she had been burned. Her hand and arm twitched as the energy from the shard shot into her.   
  
But in that brief moment he had felt everything. The strands of energy flowing out from Cassandra and binding around the Robians, the flicker and pulse of the strands as she gave  orders, and the way the shard’s energy had been disrupting the flow. 

The grip of the Robians holding him up slacked.    
  
The dimension Anarchy beryl came from was a polar opposite in nearly every way than their own.   _ Of Course it worked against chaos energy. _

And then what? He had wasted the power from the shard with his stupid tantrum and it would take time for it to charge itself again. It wasn’t as if he could just reverse what he used for technomancy.   
  
Unless…   
Anarchy beryl generated the energy from emotions, just like the chaos emeralds did. But it used negative ones instead. So if he could just feed it.   
  
A shiver went down his spine as he felt the yawning emptiness inside the crystal. It felt as if the crystal was eager, eager to glut itself emotional dregs and bloat itself with energy. The very thought of willingly giving something of himself to  _ that  _ twisted his stomach. He knew that nothing good would come from it. Nothing ever did from Anarchy beryl.

  
It was a stupid idea, ridiculously dangerous and liable to kill him. He strained to look up at Fiona, who stood defiant as the Robians closed in around her. 

He remembered the anger in her, when he had first met her in the tunnel. The bitterness, the desperation and mistrust that filled her. The haunted look in her eyes when she had realized that she had been betrayed.

It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Now, he saw the set of her jaw, and the bright, hard determination that glinted in her eyes, and he knew that he couldn’t let her die. He couldn’t fail her. So many people had failed her, so many people had betrayed and abandoned her and left her on her own.

He refused to be one of them. No matter what.

Tails swallowed and closed his eyes, focusing every single bit of anger, hatred and fear he’d felt during all of this, packing it together, the pain, fear, anger and distrust burning like poison in his chest and then he gave it over towards the shard.   
  
He slumped over as the greedy maw took, and took and took. A cold feeling crawling through his veins, making him shudder.

A trickle of power filled him, faint and feeble, flickering like a candle flame in a gust of wind.

“Let him go, Cassandra,” Fiona said quietly, eyeing the Robians as they encircled her.

Cassandra tilted her head down at Tails, her eyes narrowing as her smile widened. “Now, why would I do that?”

“Because he doesn’t want this. He doesn’t want  _ you _ .”

A flash of anger and confusion swept through Tails as he struggled weakly. What was Fiona thinking? Was she  _ trying _ to get herself killed?!

Cassandra’s grip on his face tightened, her claws pricking his skin, and then her expression changed. She smiled. 

“And yet,” she said in a soft, sickeningly sweet voice, “he is here, isn’t he, little fox? Instead of finding you and helping you escape, as I’m sure he promised…  _ he came back to me _ .”

Fiona flinched, and in her eyes, Tails saw the same pain, the same betrayal and uncertainty and loneliness, that he had seen in the tunnel, when they had first gotten into this mess.   
  
White hot pain exploded behind his eyes as the energy slammed into him, blasting away the icy cold.. He gasped as his stomach clenched, tasting bile in the back of his throat as his body rebelled against what he was doing. The pain was even worse than last time, his battered and bruised body already stretched to the breaking point beforehand, no anger and hate to cover up the pain, no surge of overconfidence. The shard took that, leaving just his body and mind screaming at him to stop doing this to himself.

But he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He had to do this.

For Fiona.   
  
He wrenched his arm out the Robian’s slackened grip, grasped Cassandra by the wrist and hoped that this would be enough. He let the warped chaos energy flow into Cassandra, and it left a trail of pain in its wake like acid flowing through his arm. Burning, screaming, searing away everything in its path.

Cassandra screamed,  yanking her arm away. The technomancy that was holding up the battered Robians crumbled and the sound of metal hitting the floor filled the air. Tails couldn’t keep his eyes open as he felt himself fall towards the hard floor, falling into the blissful embrace of unconsciousness

* * *

Cassandra’s cry of alarm, the crumbling Robians. None of that mattered as she saw Tails’ limp body hitting the ground.  
  
“Tails!”  


She ran towards him. Scowling as Cassandra stepped in her way, her eyes filled with rage. “I won’t let you steal him from me” she hissed.   
  
Fiona responded  by ramming her fist into Cassandra’s muzzle, a sickening crunch that sent Cassandra staggering backwards with a howl of pain.   
  
Cassandra was nothing compared to Gregory. But she was still fresh. Fiona panted and grit her teeth, trying to catch her breath. Her body hurt, her sides were aching and the exhaustion of the day still clung to her, weighing her down.   
  
She cursed her lack of a follow through as Cassandra didn’t go down.  A shiver slid down her spine as Cassandra glared at her, eyes wide with surprise and disbelief.

“You  _ dare? _ ” she shrieked.    
  
Fiona ignored her, eyes flicking towards Tails, lying motionlessly on the floor. The worst case scenarios flashed through her brain, edging her desperation into wild panic. Dead. Paralyzed. Burnt out from the energy of the shard. She might be fighting for nothing; she might have already lost him.

She took a deep breath as she squared her shoulders, narrowing her eyes at Cassandra. No, she would not give up on him. She would not give up on herself. Not anymore. 

She needed to get Tails out of here, and that  _ bitch _ wasn’t going to stand in her way.

All she needed was a chance. She let Cassandra make the first move, and took a defensive stance, weathering through Cassandra’s blows. Gritting her teeth and curling in on herself, waiting for the perfect moment. She was tired and running on nothing but fumes. Her body desperately wanted to give up and collapse.

But she had made a promise.. And she had but one shot at this.   
  
When Cassandra overextended herself, Fiona couldn’t help but grin as she lashed out, slamming her fist into Cassandra’s stomach. She didn’t stop to gloat, she kept going, grabbing Cassandra’s arm, turning into the movement and throwing Cassandra over her shoulder, ramming her into the ground. She didn’t give Cassandra chance to react, she simply lifted her fist and slammed it into the other woman’s temple.

Cassandra instantly went limp.   
  


Fiona panted heavily, waiting a few tense moments for any sign of movement. Cassandra was still breathing, but she was out cold..    
  
Fiona stood, staggered, and then rushed to Tails’ side. Falling down on her knees next to him, she gently turned him over and pressed her ear to his chest,holding her breath as she listened. Her stomach clenched.

_ Please, be okay. Please. Don’t leave me. _   
  
A strong heartbeat, the slight movement of his chest. She let out a sigh of relief that turned into a quiet sob. He was alive. Unconscious, but alive. The patches of cobalt fur in his coat were something to care for later, after they were out of this place.   
  
Slowly, and with great effort, Fiona managed to sling Tails across her shoulders. In the past, she’d seen Sonic use this method to carry an injured Tails away from the fight, and if that scrawny blue rat could do it, then she sure as hell could. 

For a long moment, she stood there, staring at the chaos and destruction around them, listening to Tails heart beating strong and slow in his chest.    
  
It was time for them to get the hell out of this mess.


	7. epilogue

The world slowly came into focus. Rays of morning light created a strange interplay of light and shadow as it shone into the alcove created by a few upright rocks, the faint and weak sound of running water catching his attention and pushing his desperate need for water to the forefront of his mind. 

Tails tried to push himself upright, head pounding and his limbs feeling like jello.

"Tails." A blur of red came into view and a hand was gently laid on his chest. "Lie down, you need to rest."

"Wa... water," he managed to croak out.

"Lie down," Fiona insisted. "I'll get you your water, but you need to rest." 

Tails gave in and let her push him back to the ground. A relieved smile graced her face and she disappeared from sight. Leaving him alone with his pounding headache.

He scrunched up his face, ears flat against his head as he tried to think. "Are... are we safe?" He coughed and grimaced. "Whe..."

Fiona came back in view and he was interrupted as she shoved something wet in his mouth. It tasted of dirt and synthetic fabric. He gagged, but as soon as the first drop of precious water hit his tongue, he did his best to suppress the urge.

"Sorry ‘bout that, but I didn't have really have anything else to get water with. And I didn't want to risk you drinking to greedily and choking on it, either."

Tails spat out the rag and gave her a incredulous look. "I feel like I got run over by a truck. But it can't have been that bad."

Fiona's eyes narrowed and he instinctively shrunk back under her withering glare. It reminded him way too much of Aunt Sally, right before she tore into him.

"Not that bad. Not. That. Bad," Fiona ground out. "You've been out for almost an entire day!" Her hands curled around his collar. "I had to lug your unconscious body to here, through the scorching sun! And after that, I barely could get you to hold down any water at all. I..." She choked up and her hands tensed around his collar before she pulled him in for a hug. 

"You could have died, Tails." She buried her face into his neck. “I don’t know what I would’ve done, then."

"I..." Tails stammered, carefully lifting his arm, unsure of what to do before awkwardly putting it around her back. Giving her as gentle a pat as he could. "Well. It didn't happen right? No harm, no foul." He could feel her back tense underneath his hand. And he wished he could take back those words.

She pulled away and glowered at him, eyes narrowed and leaning in closer as she readied herself to dish out a tongue lashing for the ages.

"I know things went bad," he rushed out, "things went terrible and I never, ever want to do them again. But it turned out okay. You're alive and free, I'm alive and free. We foiled her plan and got the shard out of their hands. I’d rather not repeat this, but we made it. There is a next time we can learn from. All we need to do is activate one of my beacons, and the freedom fighters will get here and we’ll be….”

He would be safe. Fiona would be lucky if she was allowed to say a word before being shoved into the knothole jail until the zone cops could come and collect her. A gaping empty feeling made itself known in the pit of his stomach. “So, what now? Are you staying?”

Fiona gave him an uneasy smile as she collected his two emergency beacons.“I... I have to leave Tails. They’ll put me right back in prison.”

“I can talk to them...”

She shook her head. “We both know neither Sonic nor Sally would believe a word out of your mouth when it comes to me. They’d think I... I dunno,” she scratched her chin and didn’t look him in the eye as she blushed slightly, “tried to mess with your feelings, again. And in this case, I don’t think anybody else is willing to speak against them.”

Tails’ ears went flat against his head. This just wasn’t fair. Fiona was trying to turn over a new leaf. And for what? For her to either end up back in prison or on her own. 

There had to be something he could do. His eyes widened and his gaze fell on the beacons in Fiona's hands. If she couldn't come near him when the freedom fighters were around, then he just needed to go to her on his own. 

"I've got an idea," he rasped out as he forced himself a bit more upright. "Hand me one of the beacons, will you?"

"And what exactly are you planning?" She handed it over, confusion clear on her face.

He struggled a bit to pop off the protective cover, his fingers not following what his brain told them to do. But eventually he managed to pull it off, revealing the beacon's control panel.

"If you ever need help, if you ever need anything, just activate the beacon. I'm the only one who'll be listening for this specific frequency. You call, and I'll be there as soon as I can." He closed the beacon back up and held it out towards her, wishing that he could lift the darn thing without feeling as if he was lifting one of knuckle's dumbbells.

"Even if you have to sneak out underneath Sonic and Sally's noses? Or anybody else of the freedom fighters?" Fiona's hand made a move to grab the beacon, but she held herself back.

"Even then," Tails answered without a moment of hesitation. A few seconds went by as Fiona just looked at the beacon. "Just take it already, Fiona. It's getting kinda heavy." 

She grabbed the beacon, giving it an unsure look. Her eyes darted between it and him.

"If you think I bugged it or something, I'm not forcing you to keep it. Throw it down a cliff if you really don't trust it." 

Fiona's eyes went wide and she clutched the beacon close to her chest. "What? No!"

Tails tilted his head, ears flicking in confusion. "Then why are you looking at me as if I gave you a bomb?"

"Do you really think I deserve this? This second chance, you sticking out your own neck, just to try and help me? Even after all this," she mentioned towards the direction he guessed Cassandra's base was. "I just feel like it wasn't enough to make up for all the things I did to you and the rest of the freedom fighters."

"It's not. I dunno if you can ever make up for the things you did to the freedom fighters," Tails said before he could stop himself, a hollow feeling in his stomach as he could see Fiona curl in on herself at those words. "But you don't have to make things up to all of us before you get another chance." He tried to smile at her, ignoring the ache in his cheeks. "I'm giving you another chance, right now. It's up to you if you wanna take it or not." 

Fiona's ears perked up at that and she grinned slightly. "Leave the fancy speeches to somebody else next time. Nearly wanted to sock you in the face after the first sentence." She slipped the beacon in her pocket. "But... uhm,” she hesitated, looking torn and then closed the distance and pulled him in a quick hug.

Tails’ eyes went wide and he stiffened at the feeling of her pressed against him. His cheeks heated up as her fur tickled his nose. 

“Thanks for giving me this chance." She pulled back and gave him a gentle smile.

“You’ll do alright with it,” he stammered out. “You sure you’ll be alright on your own?”

“I know where to go and I stashed some supplies close by. I’ll be fine. Just call the freedom fighters and I’ll use this,” she wiggled the bacon she held in her hand, “to meet up with you again later, right?” 

He smiled and nodded. 

“Right.” He sluggishly grasped the beacon, nervously fiddling with it as he watched Fiona gather up some supplies. She gave a last quick look over her shoulder at him, nervously rubbing her upper arm as she stood rooted into place.

“I’ll be fine Fiona.” He gave her his most reassuring smile as he activated the beacon. “The freedom fighters will be here before too long. Sonic isn’t called the fastest thing alive for nothing.”

She shuffled her feet a bit before nodding. “Right, you’re right on that.” With a final wave goodbye she disappeared out of the alcove and Tails settled in for the wait.

* * *

Tails didn’t quite know when he dozed off. He was startled awake by fast footsteps and distant yelling. He grunted and sluggishly rubbed his eyes as he tried to push himself upright. His ears perked up as he desperately tried to place the sounds, his heart skipping a beat as the thought of Cassandra having somehow found him before the freedom fighters.

“Tails!” 

Tails let out a sigh of relief as he recognized Sonic’s voice, warped as it was from bouncing off the rocks.

“I’m over here, Sonic!” He needed to tell him about the base, about Cassandra. It had to be shut down permanently.

Almost as soon as Tails spoke, Sonic skidded into view, relief etched into his face. 

“Somebody was mind-wiping Robians and using them for their own ends,” Tails blurted out. “She had an entire base underneath this plateau stashed full of ‘em.”

“Easy there, easy...” Sonic knelt next to him, frowning at the story. “We’ll get to that. We’ll signal the Acorn Kingdom and get the entire place on lockdown. But you need to get looked at, right now.” Sonic gently grabbed him and hoisted him of his feet. 

Tails didn’t get a chance to protest before Sonic took off, racing through the outcrop Fiona had sheltered him in and across the desert. The indignation at being manhandled like a small child quickly faded away as Tails slowly began to relax. His mind wandered back to the many times Sonic had carried him around. For the first time in what felt like months, he felt safe.

* * *

Sonic skidded to a halt next to one of the freedom fighters’ transports. Sally ran up to him.

“What did they do to you?” she choked out as she reached towards Tails. “Somebody get Doctor Quack! Now!” 

“Sally I’m fine, bu...” Tails abruptly shut his mouth at the glare she sent his way.

“Do you have any idea how worried we were? How worried I was?” Her hands gripped his collar and quickly unbuttoned his shirt, checking him over,“Sonic came rushing into our base yelling about how you got trapped after Scourge ambushed the team.” her eyes widened as she ran her hands over the splotches in his fur. “Then when we tried to dig you out we nearly brought half the mountain down on you.” her hand rested on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze, “I... we thought we lost you for good.” 

Sally pulled him close, and he could feel her tears falling onto his fur. 

“Don’t you ever do this again, Tails.”

The doctor and his assistants had rushed over with a stretcher. The duck frowned as he saw Tails in Sonic’s arms. His eyes focused on the discolourations of his fur. 

“How did you get those?” he asked as Sonic lowered Tails on the stretcher.

Tails shrunk in a bit underneath the combined gaze of the doctor, Sonic, and Sally and pulled the shard out of his pocket. Sonic narrowed his eyes as he looked at him in disbelief.

Tails winced as he looked away.

“You used that?” Sonic snatched it out of Tails’ hand, holding it away from himself like it could bite him.

“I had no choice.” 

Sonic’s face softened a bit. “I... “ he rubbed his face. “We’ll talk later about that, I’m getting this thing locked up before anything happens to it.” He zipped off.

“We’re going to prep you for transport back to knothole immediately,” the doctor said after he finished loading Tails onto the stretcher. “The sooner we get you checked out the better.”

“But, there is still the issue of Cassandra! She and her Robians had a massive base, right in that cave system!”

“We’ll find them, Tails.” Sally, didn’t even flinch as Sonic returned, skidding to a stop right next to her. “We’ll turn this entire place upside down to find whoever did this to you. But you did everything you could. For now, you just need to get better.” She brushed Tails’ untidy locks out of his eyes.

Tails looked from Sally to Sonic, who gave him a reassuring nod. 

“We’ll be tearing this entire place upside down until we find it all Tails,” Sonic said. “We’ll turn the entire kingdom upside down if we have to. We promise Cassandra won’t get away. We’ll talk to you more about this when the doctors are done with you. Okay?”

Tails sagged onto the stretcher at those words. “Okay.”

The edges of his vision became fuzzy and Sally’s eyes went wide with fright as she reached out towards him.

“Tails? Tails!”

Sonic and Sally’s voices faded away as the numbness of unconsciousness took hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's the end of this arc. For those who stayed with me and read it. thanks for your time and attention.
> 
> and while this arc of the story has been closed. The adventures of Tails and fiona aren't yet complete :) So I hope you enjoyed this story enough to read the continuation that will come out.
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


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